The Frikádes
by Scribble01
Summary: When it is revealed that Annabeth used him as a rebound, Percy goes to Alaska to get away from Camp Half-Blood. But there are things in Alaska older than gods and titans and giants. And he might just end up working for them. Polygamy. Percy x Thalia x Zoe x Artemis x Piper x Bianca x Hestia x Reyna x Sadie Kane x Calypso x OC.
1. Prologue

_**The House of Night, Tartarus**_

The halls were quiet for a time. The air was hung with the poison Tartarus naturally gave out but also with a tense and unruly feeling. The horrors that would drive any mortal insane should they see them were quiet for once in millennia.

The House of Night was completely empty, not a monster bothering to stay at the normal safe haven, except for the throne room that was brimming with suppressed power.

The shadows reacted to their masters' feelings, writhing in discomfort as many more domains were affected. Inside the throne room, two figures sat on thrones looking intently at the floor.

The thrones were beautiful, standing tall and having intricate designs etched into the black marble. One of the thrones had the moon carved into it, with stars and planets decorating around it. The other was darker than the other and its design was more of a swirling mixed with straight lines that interconnected, making it seem as though it was living and breathing.

The thrones, however, were nothing compared to the couple who sat on them. One was a woman who looked twenty or so, with black hair that sheaned under the light appearing from nowhere, sparkling black eyes, and a body to make Aphrodite jealous. She was small, only five-eleven, but with a good sized bust and teasing creamy legs that poked out of her chiton. Her skin wasn't flawless but rather sprinkled with freckles like stardust.

Her companion was surprisingly different, yet similar. He had black hair that was pulled into a short ponytail, eyes that were swallowed by black ink to leave nothing but blackness, and pale skin that had a tint of something to it. He would have had women drooling over him as the woman would have had men doing the same. He was tall and reached six-six. He was ripped as well, having muscles easily shown by his bare arms that weren't covered by his chiton.

These two were the siblings Nyx, the Primordial Goddess of Night, and Erebus, the Primordial of Darkness and Shadows. And they were worried. They knew that without their interference, everything their mother had created and entrusted to them would be destroyed.

Yet even though they knew about the consequences, they still sat in silence, not wanting to speak as that would make their situation even more real. Despite that, they were also waiting for their brother. Besides them, he was the only one that cared enough to do anything. After all, they were the eldest.

It was a few minutes of tense and undisturbed silence before it was interrupted by a bright purple swirl of smoke appearing in the middle of the room. They didn't bother looking away, though the smell of the smoke irritated their nostrils for a few seconds.

When the smoke dissipated completely and their sense of smell returned to normal, they saw their brother standing there. He was large and bulky, seven feet tall, and overly muscled with only shorts and a tattered cloak with a hood to cover himself. From behind the cover of his hood, his eyes glowed a dark and seemly malicious red. He wore no shirt, revealing scars of all kinds.

"Nyx, Erebus," the new arrival greeted with a gravelly voice. It had been a long time since the oldest had been called together. The last time having been the meeting to discuss if any action should be taken when Kronos, the Titan of Time, became King of the Earth.

"Tartarus," Nyx greeted warmly while her brother gave him a sharp nod. He was too into his thoughts of what lied before them to answer with words. If everything went easy, then well done. If not... it wouldn't be pretty.

"Do you know why we asked you here, brother?" Nyx asked carefully. She did not want her brother to go away as she only gets glimpses of him over the millennia. To actually talk to him was refreshing. And if he agreed, they would talk to each other a lot more.

Tartarus nodded solemnly, already knowing why his siblings had called him. "They are escaping," he said. "I can feel then trying to claw their way out of their prisons. If they do this... Everything we worked hard to build, to correct, will be for nothing."

Erebus stood from his throne and walked over to Tartarus, significantly smaller but somehow just as imposing. "Then you understand the importance of this. If we do nothing... everything will die. No one cares enough to do anything but Nyx and I. Though, I ask you, the one to imprison them, will you fight with us to keep those... Frikádes in their cages or put them back?"

"You must not remember who showed you our errors," Tartarus snapped. "I was the one who showed you and my sister why those 'Horrors', as you so eloquently called them, needed to die. Why they needed a prison. I was the one who got you to _care._ "

"Brothers, peace," Nyx called as she stood from her throne. "No one is denying what you have done Tartarus. That is yours and yours alone. But what we're asking of you now, is to lead us against the Horrors again. To help us before everything we have come to care for is destroyed. And before we fade and go into the Void."

Tartarus, who had been glaring at Erebus, snapped his head up to look at Nyx. "What are you talking about?" He demanded.

"We are fading," Erebus repeated. "And with how old our old bodies and minds are... we don't have long. Perhaps if we were younger, we could survive with what we have..."

"The mortals do not worship us," Nyx supplied, "but instead harm our domains. The lights of the world cloud my night and no one fears the dark anymore. Erebus can only live off of the darkness of man before it starts to effect him, as it has done me."

"The incident with the demigods," Tartarus realized. Nyx nodded in shame.

"Erebus gave me enough power to live off of but it was too much for a sliver of my consciousness. The darkness of man is a broken one." A tear ran down her cheek and she hurriedly brushed it off.

"I don't believe it," Tartarus cried indignantly. "There must be some way to keep you here."

"There isn't!" Nyx yelled, near tears. "Night has just become the absence of day! And Shadows and Darkness are only the absence of light!" She broke into sobs, the tears making her cheeks burn but she kept talking. "We're FADING! And there's nothing we can do about it!"

"Then why am I not fading?" Tartarus demanded. "I may be the youngest of us three but should I not be fading as well?"

"The monsters worship you," Erebus said as he wrapped Nyx's shoulders in a blanket of darkness. "The Horrors acknowledge you, as do the demigods and gods. Now more than ever since Perseus Jackson and the Athenian spawn escaped the Pit."

Nyx recovered from her outburst and turned to her brother. "Please, Tartarus. Help us do this before it's too late. We only have so much time."

"How much?" Tartarus asked quietly.

"Fifteen years," Erebus answered. "That's our estimate. We have at least fifteen years. Thirty at the most."

"That isn't a lot of time," Tartarus whispered.

"Which is why we need to act quickly before it's too late," Nyx said. Her face was cleared up and she had a determined look in her eyes. "We don't know where they will break from first but we can contain it to outside of the gods' powers."

"Alaska?" Tartarus had been there once. It was pretty. "I agree. It most likely isn't good for the gods to know of the Frikádes and know where they are. Zeus would probably try to use them for his own means."

"Exactly," Erebus agreed. "Which is why we need to keep this quiet. Our brothers and sisters have denied us any help from them." His voice turned sad as he thought of his siblings. They refused to help, too mad at this world or too busy wallowing in guilt.

"How many have escaped so far?" Nyx asked. They couldn't keep track as they put a stop to the main rampage in Cell Block A. But there were also a lot of little breakouts from some of the more intelligent Frikádes.

"Too many," Tartarus said. "About a hundred or so. And the others you stopped are howling and clawing their way out. It won't be long before we have another breakout on our hands."

"What do you suggest we do?" Nyx asked him.

"We hunt them down."


	2. One

Camp Half-Blood

"I DON'T CARE ANNABETH! YOU SAID HIS NAME! HIS! NOT MINE!"

"Is that all!?" Annabeth shrieked. "Fine then! LUKE! LUKE! LUKE!"

"We were having sex Annabeth! How can you not see that you shouting another man's name- much less a past crush- while having sex is a bad thing!"

"Don't be such a Seaweed Brain- Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't walk away from me!"

Percy walked into the cold night air, his hand bleeding from the stone he punched off his wall. He couldn't believe the nerve of his girlfriend. They were having a romantic evening, with flowers and candles and some smut, when all of a sudden she moaned his old enemy's name. Granted he had forgiven Luke Castellan for everything he had done, it hurt like a bitch to hear his girlfriend moaning the child of Hermes' name. And she acted like nothing was wrong! Like it was a normal everyday occurrence that she was thinking of Luke while they did... things.

Percy's eyes widened. Could she have been... Mother FUCKER! She had been. She had been thinking of Luke instead of accepting that Percy was right there. Percy didn't brace for the impact like he usually did. He merely contracted his arm and let it shoot out, hitting the column that held the ceiling of the porch up. It cracked in half, jutting out at an angle so it still held its' weight.

The crack that echoed through the valley reached everyone's ears. The crack was not that of Percy's hand though. One would think that hitting a marble beam and cracking it would hurt the son of Poseidon but one technique he learned as Bastard Prince of the Sea was that his skin could turn as tough as a Sperm Whale's naturally when his body sensed pain was imminent.

Chiron, who had been conversing with the harpies on when they should change shifts, heard the crack of marble with his supernatural hearing. Quickly dismissing the harpies, he trotted to the Poseidon cabin wanting to see what was going on. He could hear their shouts but had been to far away to figure out what they were saying.

When he got there, Percy was still breathing deeply at an attempt at trying to control his anger. He wasn't wearing a shirt and while he had his belt buckled, it was loose and the jeans under it were open. His eyes glistened with tears he had yet to shed and there were claw marks on his shoulders stretching all the way to his abdomen.

"I'm going to be taking a break from camp," Percy said before the centaur could say anything. His voice was hard and angry. "I don't know when I'll come back but when I'm ready, I will." Percy began to mutter under his breath incoherently.

"I'm sorry, what was that, child?" Chiron asked as politely as he could. It was already clear that Percy was very angry; Chiron didn't want it to rise. He was so much like his father that way, Chiron mused. Easy and laid back but can go zero to sixty when angry.

"I asked... I asked if you could get Annabeth out of my cabin for me," Percy said. Chiron could tell he was swallowing all of his anger and the pride that came with it. Chiron had noticed with Percy, his flaw spread to others. Grudges to those that betrayed him, pride of those who stuck by him, and arrogant once his Luck of the Devil reached its peak.

"I don't really want to see her," Percy continued. He uneasily looked towards Chiron and swore. "I'm sorry Chiron, I have to tell you. You know that thing that you frown upon before people get married?"

"Yes," Chiron replied, coaxing Percy to go on. He had many beliefs and one was no sex before marriage. He could already tell that they disregarded that rule three months ago when Annabeth was glowing during breakfast.

"She..," Percy could barely continue. "She said Luke's name while... while we were...-"

"I see," Chiron said briskly. He wasn't mad at Percy. Annabeth, however, was another matter. Chiron had always had a feeling that her feelings for Luke were more than what was appropriate for a twelve year old. And now that she had announced that she still had feelings for the dead son of Hermes- five years later-, Chiron could only be disappointed that she led the son of Poseidon on. "I'll see what I can do."

Percy nodded as Chiron took notice of the broken beam four feet away from the grieving, used, son of Poseidon. He felt crappy asking his second father to kick his girlfri- NO! Ex girlfriend. She made a tool out of him. A toy she could use to her will. And he let her.

He never saw the signs before then. How he was always the one to enact the kiss. How he was the one who asked her to hang out- only to be turned down most of the time. How she was always reacting to everything he had done to her. How could he have not noticed sooner?

Chiron decided not to dwell on the broken pillar; Hephaestus cabin could always fix it when it was light out. Chiron trotted carefully to the door before knocking softly. There was scrambling and things being dropped before the door opened revealing Annabeth in only a giant sea-green t-shirt.

Her scowl and pout immediately dropped upon seeing Chiron instead of her lover. "Hey, Chiron," Annabeth greeted. "What do you need?"

"It's time to go to your cabin, Annabeth," Chiron said kindly. "I'm sure you're very tired." It wasn't a suggestion.

"No," Annabeth denied. "I'm not that tired and I want to say goodnight to Percy first."

"Annabeth," Chiron pressed. "You will see each other in the morning. Go to your cabin."

Annabeth huffed. "Fine," she relented and stormed out of the cabin, her hubris acting up. Chiron watched as she made her way to the Athena cabin when the space next to him shimmered and Percy appeared. He used a new trick he picked up called Vapor Travel. It was faster than his father's Mist Travel but it took a lot out of the demigod.

"I'll be gone by morning," Percy told his mentor. "Just give me some time, okay? Iris Message me if anything happens, I'll come back."

Chiron nodded and left Percy to pack his clothes. He was going to his mom's house for a visit since it had been a while, get some advise and comfort and most definitely some cookies. Then he was going to Alaska. It was beautiful there. He couldn't get the scenery out of his head since he visited there. It was so peaceful; untouched by anything the gods could throw at it. It was... for lack of a better word, Elysium for him. That's what he wanted Elysium to look like. Or Isles of the Blessed. If Isles of the Blessed looked like Alaska, Percy thought it would be worth leading three lives.

Maybe if some of Alaska's peace could rub off on him, he could be... peaceful?

Percy had packed light. A couple pairs of shirts and pants, wore his hoodie and sneakers, had Riptide in his pocket, and kept a few imperishable foods in his bag, including nectar and ambrosia, small boxes he had lying around, and a pouch full of drachmas. He smiled. He didn't think he was missing anything.

Quietly, Percy sneaked out of his cabin and towards the pegasus' stables. Nearly all the pegasi were asleep except for one: Blackjack. Percy walked up to the black pegasus and stroked his mane.

'Hey Boss,' Blackjack said. 'You ready?'

'Yeah,' Percy replied mentally, hoping not to wake the other pegasi. 'How did you know we were leaving?'

'Chiron,' the pegasus answered simply. Percy smiled. Chiron was an awesome second father. Poseidon was a close third.

'We're going to my mom's,' Percy told Blackjack. 'And then you're going to come back here while I go to Alaska.'

'Alaska?' Blackjack questioned. 'Why there?'

'It's... peaceful,' Percy finally answered. 'Undisturbed.' Blackjack nodded and neighed in understanding. Percy led his pegasus out of the stables, hopped on, and they flew into the Long Island sky at a leisurely pace.

Line Break 1

The Manhattan skyline was absolutely breathtaking from so high up. The sun had started to rise half an hour ago and bathed the city in a pinkish light that Percy loved. Though he had to say he hated it too. The noise and the dirty streets. There was no peace in New York like there was in Alaska.

Blackjack stopped on the roof of his mother's apartment and Percy got off. "I promise I'll bring you some cookies before you go, okay. Give me a few hours."

'Whatever boss,'Blackjack neighed. 'As long as I get some of Mama Boss' cookies, I'll wait out here for days.'Percy had to laugh slightly at the name the pegasus dubbed his mom. But while he laughed, he tried not to cry. He didn't want to do that in front of Blackjack.

Annabeth... She never really loved him, did she? What was he to her? A rebound? A trophy to flaunt around? Did she get a title out of it? At the thought, Percy got angry as he descended the steps of the apartment roof.

Was that all he was to her? Something to have and show? He fell into Tartarus for her! He... he went down into that place simply because what he felt was genuine. How stupid could he have been? Why couldn't he be as alert to feelings as the next person, like his mother? But no. The fates deemed that Percy Jackson is going to be oblivious to feelings so he can have his heart torn out.

Percy wasn't sure if that was how things worked in the world of making humans, but he sure as hell had to blame how he was on someone. But with that anger and blame, came the sadness. The heart shattering fact that Annabeth made him... a reboundand never really loved him? It was crushing.

He stood in front of his mother's apartment door and couldn't help but remember the last time he had done this. Knocking on his mother's door, near tears, and seeking comfort. The last time had been when the Second Giant War had just ended. People were dead, the camp was practically destroyed, and he was the cause of it. Just a fucking nose bleed.

Taking a deep breath and deciding not to tell anyone that he and Annabeth broke up, he knocked on the door. Paul opened the door with a smile. He saw Percy and his smile brightened and widened. He ushered Percy into the small apartment and closed the door behind them.

"What are you doing here, Percy?"Paul asked as he hugged his step-son. Percy hugged back gingerly, aware that Paul was slowly getting older and might break because of Percy's demigod strength.

"I-uh..." Percy wracked his head for a reason. "I'm just stopping by. Chiron wanted me to do something in the city and I was in the neighborhood and I thought seeing you in person would be good. Right?"

Paul shook his head. "Of course it's good to see you, Percy!" He clapped Percy on his back and then led him to the living room where Sally sat on the couch waiting, with a baby in her arms. She had a smile on her face but she seemed a little tired with small bags under her eyes.

"Stop your yelling," she half-scolded. Percy immediately laughed but quieted down once he saw the baby. He looked to his mom and she only smiled and nodded her head, giving her permission. Percy sat next to his mother and baby sister, eagerly holding out his arms in order to hold his sibling.

Sally handed her to Percy, watching quietly as he held her gingerly. The baby was only a few months old, nearly a year. She had been born just as the Second Giant War was ending, and it has been nearly ten months since then. Sally wondered how she got such perfect children.

"Hey, Alex." The baby smiled in her sleep as she heard Percy's voice. It was one of the only things to calm her down when she got really heated, but that rarely happened. The last time was nearly two weeks ago.

"Percy," Sally whispered as to not wake up her daughter. Percy hummed in acknowledgement. "What are you doing out of Camp?"

Percy froze. Did she know what was going on? No... Chiron would leave that to Percy. Not unless it was important and Percy couldn't tell her himself. Percy thought back to what he told Paul, who standing behind his mother.

"I'm doing something for Chiron," Percy lied. He loosened his muscles and put on a small smile to soothe his mother. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I would stop by... That's okay right?"

There must have been the fear he was feeling etched into his voice because Sally immediately said, "Of course it is!" Alex twitched but didn't wake up. "What I mean Percy, is that you'll always be welcome here. It's your home."

Percy smiled and then frowned. Home. He always thought that was Camp Half-Blood. Now though, he wasn't sure he could call that home anymore. Not really. But with his mom, sister, and Paul, it could always be home. And Alaska could grow to be home too.

"Mom..." Percy was unsure how to go with this. Not telling the truth to his mom... it was like lying. He remembered something the Stolls had said: 'It's not lying; It's telling a truth that isn't there.' Katie Gardner gave Travis a hit for that.

"I'm doing something for Chiron," he said. Seeing his mom's look, he quickly clarified. "Looking for the Party Ponies." She nodded like this was perfectly reasonable. It wasn't if she considering who the Party Ponies were. "It might take me a while and I will be going across the country. I won't be gone for maybe a month or two."

The last part was the truth. There was only so long a demigod could live in the Land Beyond the Gods. And he'd have to come back to camp eventually or a lot of people would ask questions. And not any he was ready to answer just yet.

"Where do you think they are?" Paul asked. He came up beside Sally and was now sitting on the arm of the couch on her other side.

"The Party Ponies?" Paul nodded. Percy scrunched his eyebrows in thought before telling a truth that wasn't there. "Last I heard, they were going somewhere north. So maybe Oregon or Canada. North Dakota, maybe. Somewhere with a lot of woodlands and paintball guns."

Sally smiled as she watched Paul and her son's interactions with each other. She knew it was wrong, but sometimes she thought that Paul made a better father than Poseidon does. Though she also knew it was true. Sad, but true.

"You'll be back in time for school?" Sally interrupted. Because of Hera, Percy missed most of his junior year. Luckily, he could redo it at Goode, but he had to be on time.

"Yes, mom," he said innocently. That was one thing he could be sure as hell he did do. He would lie to her, but he would never try to disappoint her. Which was one of the reasons this lie had to do well. So she isn't disappointed that he didn't see Annabeth's folly sooner.

"I... I suppose this is goodbye for now then," she said. Percy raised his eyebrow.

"I did promise Blackjack some cookies from you and I couldn't just go back to him without them," Percy said. Sally smiled at her son for his cunning. Only he could find a way to do something by not saying it. He should make Annabeth happy, no matter what Athena says.

Percy looked back to the baby in his arms and smiled. "I can't believe you kept on with the Greek theme," he scoffed. "Seriously, why couldn't they have given you a better name. What kind of name is Alexandria, anyway?"

Line Break 2

"Here you go," Percy said as he took out a batch of cookies from a sealed Tupperware container his mother gave to him. It was several hours later and almost noon. Percy had asked why Paul and Sally were up so early and they had said that Alex had woken them up. They had just put her back to sleep when Percy had knocked on the door.

Percy took half the cookies out of the Tupperware container and fed them to the pegasus. They were blue and chocolate chip, Percy and Thalia and Nico's favorite. Blackjack loved them, too. At the thought of Nico and Thalia, Percy remembered the first time they had met his mother together. It was shortly after the Second Titan War, they were watching a movie when they suddenly fell asleep. Sally had taken a picture and gave the three of them a copy.

In it, they were on the sofa, Percy in the middle with Nico on his right and Thalia on his left. Nico's head was on Percy's thigh and Percy had a hand on his shoulder. Thalia had her head on his shoulder, with his head on hers and his arm wrapped around her waist. It had been the first good night's sleep he had gotten in a while.

Percy shook himself out of his memories and handed the chosen cookies to his pegasus. He looked back at the Tupperware full of cookies and thought about his cousins. When was the last time they had any cookies? They thought of Sally as their own mother they never got to have, he knew that. Maybe they would want some cookies.

Thinking quickly, Percy grabbed a spare box from his pack that he left with Blackjack and looked inside. he grabbed two small boxes and a pouch full of drachmas, while also grabbing a Sharpie. He put half of the remaining cookies in one box and the other half in the second box and then closed it. On the first box, he wrote 'Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis', then put two drachmas on the top. On the second he wrote 'Nico DiAngelo, Ghost King,' and put two drachmas on top.

'Hermes,' he prayed, 'I need these to get to Thalia and Nico quickly. Please?' The boxes disappeared with a pop and a note appeared.

'No problem, Perce,' the note read. Percy smiled at the note, thankful that the cookies would get to them before they spoiled.

"Alright, Blackjack," Percy said. "Time for you to go. I'll see you in a few weeks. Tell Mrs. O'Leary that too. Okay?"

'Sure thing boss.' Blackjack neighed and took off, leaving Percy alone on the rooftop.

Line Break 3

Thalia was running along the edge of the woods. Artemis had wanted her to get the meat to use for dinner. And there just so happened to be a deer not two miles away from the Hunters' camp. The deer was beautiful. It had large horns that proudly reached up into the air, a shiny coat of fur that was a rich amber, and giant eyes that made Thalia question whether it was a deer or a doe.

The large woods she was in were near Oregon. The northern state always had the best woods to hunt in. Monsters especially liked them, given the game that came through there. Thalia's bow was in her hand with an arrow already knocked.

The deer was just beyond the bushes Thalia hid behind. It was grazing on the grass there, slowly eating and not even paying attention. The daughter of Zeus took a deep breath, shifted her foot, and drew back the bowstring. She took aim, knowing that she would at least make it quick.

But as the moment she let go of the arrow, a flash blinded her and she immediately closed her eyes. When the flash was gone, Thalia saw the deer was too. She yelled in frustration after the deer that was skipping away. It had taken her nearly three hours to find it.

She then looked from the running deer to the flash that cost her the shot. It was a box. It was small and had a note on it. 'Thank you for using Hermes' Messaging Service,' it read. 'Paid For by Perseus Jackson.'

She wondered why Percy was sending her anything. Sure it had been a few months since she'd seen him; the last time being when his sister was born. It had been good day. Percy had smiled so much that day, like the Second Giant War and Tartarus had never even happened.

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows as she remembered him after Tartarus. He had been haunted, for lack of a better word. Annabeth took it in stride, however. To the point where she told Thalia what had happened. She said that Percy had tortured the Goddess of Misery with her own tears and was willing to fight Tartarus, himself. There was something odd about Annabeth then. She didn't look at Percy like she used to.

Shaking off the disturbing memory, she opened the box and nearly gasped at the sight. There inside, was a pile of blue cookies. They were obviously Sally's doing, but why did Percy send her some? Was he missing her? She actually felt a sort of protectiveness over the cookies. They were heaven, full of chocolatey goodness. And anything from her surrogate mom was good.

Thalia couldn't help but smile. But she also couldn't help but question Percy's motives.

Line Break 4

One Week Later, Alaska

There hadn't been one monster attack. Now, Percy was on edge. His hand was constantly in his pocket, gripping Riptide. His watch was at the ready and he was constantly watching people. His gut was ready for a tug at any moment.

But then again, all the better, he supposed. The train ride across Canada had been peacefully non-griffin, the bus that took him across the border was Fury free- an irrational fear he had since his first quest-, and the motel he was staying at wasn't being operated by an evil sorceress that wanted to turn him into a guinea pig. So all's well, ends well.

He had managed to get a job too. He worked at a diner, being a busboy. It wasn't hard, it was just tiring. He was used to washing dishes because of his mom and camp. Though he had to say, it was much easier washing dishes with water than with lava. There was less of a chance for the dishes to melt or to get burned and have an amputation.

But that only happened with other people. Thanks to Mount Saint Helens, Percy learned that he was partially invincible to fire, burning, and lava. He couldn't soak in the stuff, but he could splash his hands in it every once in a while.

"See you later Percy," a woman called from the back of the diner as Percy exited from the front.

"Bye Mrs. Reign!" Percy yelled. She was a nice woman and hired Percy on the spot, saying 'You have spice.' He had been told he has a lot of things but 'Spice' had to be the weirdest. It trumped the master bolt, incompetence, fatal flaw, the 'Sea', kelp-for-brains and so much more. But he kinda liked the ring to it.

Percy stepped out of the low building and into the fresh, clean air. It was cold, the chill even reaching through Percy's leather jacket, his blue t-shirt, and his jeans. The melting snow underneath him crunched underneath his hiking boots, having been bought once he realized that tennis shoes weren't going to make it in the mushy and wet climate he was in.

The diner was on the side of the road, along with a Rest Stop for trucks, the motel Percy slept at, and the rest was surrounded by woods. Behind the buildings and across the narrow street were miles of trees. It was Alaska, so Percy didn't know how many miles the woods were. But so far, every time he took a stroll through them, he thought it was maybe three miles.

Walking through them was one of the best things about Percy's day. The sun would shine through the treetops, bathing the ground and the animals in a golden light. The animals wouldn't back away from him either. If anything, they seemed to come closer to him. Like a curious puppy. Which was weird considering it was a wolf that managed to get three feet closer to him.

Like everyday, Percy took a walk without going to his motel room. He found it was better to just go into the woods when he was in civilization (if you could call a highway diner civilization). It really showed the difference. Like stepping into another world.

Plus, he didn't have to take a shower twice.

The twigs silently cracked underneath him as he walked. The absolute silence seemed to echo in Percy's ears as he walked. But then the silence was broken. There was a clang. Then another and another, until the woods were full of the sound. They came like someone was fighting someone else.

Percy listened, using his demigod senses. The clangs... they were metal meeting something else. Not like the clang you'd find in the Hephaestus cabin in Camp Half-Blood but... the ones in the Arena. The sword fighting rink. Someone was fighting with swords.

With the thought came with the obvious one: Demigods. But what would demigods be doing in Alaska? Percy momentarily sighed internally. He was aware of the irony that thought held. After all, he was a demigod too.

Instincts kicked in, Percy started running to the sounds of the clangs. He ran as fast as he could, hoping that the demigods were at least okay at fighting. Or at the very least, deflecting blows. Trees blurred past him, each clang getting louder as he ran. The foliage kicked his legs and left drops of water on his jeans. Then he ran into a clearing.

The very first thing he saw was the monster. It was a huge hulking mass on all fours, like a canine, except it was without any hair but its mane and had no tail. Its skin was gray and the main was only brown tubes of flesh attached to its skull. It had four large yellow eyes that surrounded a large round pupil. Its maw was elongated like a snake's but its head was surrounded by an exoskeleton that was blood red. Its four incisors were huge and protruded out of the things jaw.

But that was nothing compared to the rest of the thing's body. It was muscled beyond belief, showing black veins that encompassed its arm like a road map. The arms were larger than the back half of its body, with its legs like a frogs, like it could pounce without a moment's notice. Scars decorated it as well, much like Percy's own body. It was tall too, reaching just under Percy's shoulders.

Percy's attention was drawn to the other people in the clearing, fighting the monster. They weren't demigods. Not in the least. There were three. One was a woman and the other two were men. They were too old to be demigods, at least Greek. But the way they fought was on par with the gods' themselves. Maybe better considering what they were fighting.

Percy couldn't help but think that the woman was gorgeous. She was wearing a black trench coat with the moon on its back, a black belly shirt, a really short skirt, and knee high boots. She had shining black hair and pale skin littered with freckles. She also wielded a black bladed sword that was nearly twice her size with one hand. It was huge but she held it as though it was as light as a knife.

One of the men was like the woman. He wore a black trench coat without the moon, a black shirt, black jeans, and boots much like Percy's. His hair wasn't shiny black like the woman's but rather a deeper black that seemed bottomless. His skin was as pale as the girl's but unlike the girl, he had a different weapon. Percy thought it looked like a katana but longer. It was large, curved, and somehow looked like a large, curved machete. It too, was black.

The second man was completely different from the other two people. He was at least seven feet tall, bulky, and had a deafening presence. Unlike the others, he didn't wear a trench coat but rather a tattered hooded cloak and jeans with no shoes or shirt. Scars decorated his torso and the hood was down to show his shaggy dark purple hair. His skin was tan. But his eyes drew Percy's attention. They were blood red and Percy could have sworn on the Styx he'd seen them from somewhere before. His weapon was a giant double headed axe. Instead of black, though, it was the blade was a dark red while the shaft was black.

They moved like a team. A really, really organized team. The woman would stab the beast at its side, then while the beast went to swipe at her, the smaller man would slice it at one of its legs. The bigger man would then use his axe to knock back the monster by hitting the skeleton on its head.

It seemed like it was going very well; Percy could only watch in admiration. At least until the monster got smart and changed tactics. Instead of hitting the man with the axe with its head, it swept its leg under the man's feet to knock him to the ground. It worked, and the beast slammed its foreleg into the man's chest. Surprised, the smaller man saw his chance too late and ended up getting hit by the thing's head.

The smaller man slammed into the woman's shoulder, knocking her off balance and making her lose her grip on the greatsword. As it fell to the ground, the monster moved its leg and caused the sword to be tossed across the field. The monster then turned its attention to the owner of the sword and got ready to pounce.

Percy didn't realize he was charging in until he already uncapped Riptide. The three foot bronze xiphos gleamed in the light shining through the tree tops.

Percy was in front of the girl in a few seconds, raising the blade to greet the monster's lunging maw. Percy had one hand on the handle and the other on the flat of his blade as the monster smashed into him. His feet dug into the dirt as he was pushed back a few inches. The woman behind him tripped over her feet in surprise and fell onto the freshly fallen snow. She then turned and crawled to where her sword was, only to have it hiding in the foliage.

He grit his teeth, using all of his strength to keep from being pushed back. With a wild roar, Percy pushed on the blade, forcing the monster to follow, and Percy disengaged from the clash, quickly slicing at one of its left eyes.

The beast yelped in pain before backtracking. Percy didn't look at the woman behind him but was aware she had ran to the sidelines to get her sword. He took a defensive stance. He was prepared to fight. Then the monster started to talk in a dark and deep baritone, sounding older than Kronos had.

"You have wounded me, boy," the thing snarled. "It is quite an achievement to harm one such as myself." It started to pace sideways in a half circle, no doubt looking for a break or fault in Percy's stance.

"Because of this," it continued, "I shall grant you this one mercy. You may leave as this has nothing to do with you. Not yet at least. You need only leave and forget what you've seen here, and you may live to see another day."

"Tempting offer," Percy snarled back with his usual amount of snark. "But I don't take well to talking lizards telling me what to do. Besides, you wouldn't be the first person to try to kill me. And you won't be the last. Not with how my life has turned out so far."

"A shame," it remarked. "You could have lived longer." Then it struck.

Percy rolled under one of its giant arms as it swung at him, taking a swipe as soon as he came up to a knee. Only to have the blade drag along against its skin. Confused, Percy kicked it to launch off its hide and away from its teeth that had been coming at him.

With a few feet in between them, Percy carefully looked his opponent over. Its eye was fine. There wasn't a gash where he sliced it. In fact, there wasn't anything. There was no sign of a previous injury, nothing that could have told Percy if the beast was impenetrable or just a fast healer.

"You're observant," the opponent mused. "But stupid enough to think you can take me on."

"And you're uglier than a Predator," Percy retorted. They had taken to reassessing each other, slowly circling. "What's your point? It's who I am."

"And who are you?" The monster asked. Percy saw its eyes dart around the clearing, no doubt checking if the other three were going to attack it. The two men were out cold, their heads hitting the hard rock ground when they were outsmarted, and the girl was still looking for her sword.

"Nobody," Percy claimed. "Who are you. Cause I've seen some ugly poodles but you take the cake."

"I am Sammael."

"Like that clears anything up," Percy said. Sammael snarled and leapt towards Percy. Following his instincts, Percy twisted and let Sammael pass by harmlessly. He then kicked its back leg, causing it to falter and its left side to collapse on the ground.

So it was just the skin that was invincible. Like the Nemian Lion. So, either blunt force trauma or kill it from the inside. Inside seemed like the most likely thing to do.

Sammael turned and tried to take a bite out of Percy. The demigod jumped back, thinking he was safe, when something shot out of its maw. It was long, dark grey, had a mouth of its own with four incisors, and was snapping like a turtle.

Percy raised his arm in defence while trying to skirt around the giant King Kong sized leech thing. One of its teeth scraped Percy's arm, ripping through it like wet tissue paper and let the blood flow. The leech retracted into Sammael and the thing closed its mouth.

It only hummed thoughtfully and decided not to elaborate. The battle only got harder from then on. Sammael moved with speed he hadn't shown earlier and only Percy's instincts and ADHD were keeping him alive. Percy was bidding his time, waiting for that thing to come out again.

It never did. Eventually Percy started to tire, slowing only a miniscule amount but it was enough for it to get an advantage. Sammael batted Percy's sword aside and head-butted him in the chest with enough force to send him flying several feet back.

Percy landed on his side, his bloody arm underneath him. The monster walked leisurely towards him, thinking that Percy was done for and had no more fight left in him. He was wrong.

Percy's life flashed in his eyes, like usual. This time it had newer images. His mom, Paul, and Alexandria when he visited them a week earlier and promised to be back in two months. Chiron, who helped him get out of camp unnoticed. The Seven, sitting on the ground having a picnic. New Rome, with Terminus and Lupa and Reyna. Thalia and Nico and him in the picture his mom gave him.

He couldn't die there, not now. And he didn't care what he had to do to live. To see his family again. Only later would he realize that Annabeth hadn't shown up in his life flashing.

In a bout of energy, Percy rolled off his arm and flung it in Sammael's direction, focusing on the blood droplets that had made it into its roaring mouth. At first nothing happened. Then came the sudden jerk.

Percy watched in concentration, and made a twitching movement with his non-injured hand. Sammael suddenly jerked to that side, coughing. Percy could feel them, the blood that bonded with his. Percy felt add its heart pumped harder, sending the contaminated blood into its brain. Then Percy smashed it.

It was like Play-Doh. It felt as though something was actually in his hand as he crushed the brain of Sammael using both his and Percy's blood. He smiled. He got to live another day.

And then he slumped down, his eyes closed and his breathing ceasing.


	3. Two

**(A/N: If there is any confusion, Sammael is pronounced Sam-I-el.)**

Erebus' vision was blurred when he woke up. What he could see was a boy, battling Sammael. The boy had a messy head of raven black hair, tan- almost bronze- skin, glowing green eyes, and was almost six feet tall. He was wearing a black leather jacket that had a tear in it with blood dripping down the side of his arm, a blue shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of hiking boots. His weapon was a three foot shining bronze xiphos. And he was also dodging Sammael like no other.

He twisted and turned, letting Sammael pass by harmlessly while also dragging his sword around Sammael's skin. Like he was looking for a weak spot. He slid under Sammael's overhead swing and hit him in the side, sending him skirting across the field. The boy was strong and fast.

But he was slowing down. And if Erebus could see that, so could Sammael. He was right, as Sammael knocked the boy's sword aside and hit him in the chest. The boy flew through the air and landed on his injured arm. Sammael laughed and roared as he approached the boy. Erebus could feel the boy and his darkness growing.

Suddenly, the boy rolled off his injured arm and flung it at Sammael. Blood spattered across his face and some even going into his mouth as he roared his victory. Then he jerked.

Sammael jerked his head to the side, coughing spastically like he had something in his lungs that he couldn't get out and wasn't getting enough air. Erebus turned to look at the boy to see him moving his noninjured hand's fingers like they were tied to the strings of a puppet. Then he balled his hand into a fist.

Sammael collapsed, blood spilling out of his mouth and onto the snow ridden forest floor. Erebus looked at Sammael's body in awe. Sammael wasn't the strongest Frikádes, but he was one of the hardest to kill. To see a kid do what three Primordials have been trying to do for an hour...

The kid slumped down, his eyes closing and his breathing stopped. Erebus shook off his shock and ran to the boy. As he leaned over the boy, he noticed that he looked around seventeen years old. Barely an adult in America.

"Nyx! Tartarus!" Erebus yelled. "I need some help over here!"

Nyx abandoned her search for her Zweihänder to go get Tartarus. He was still clutching his chest, a rib or two was most likely broken. The moment they spotted Sammael, their eyes went wide.

"How did you kill him?" Tartarus asked, seeing no rips or tears in Sammael's skin anywhere near the heart.

"I didn't," Erebus retorted. He moved out of the way to reveal a kid with black hair, a bronze tan, and a bleeding arm. Though his eyes were closed, Tartarus felt as though he could still see the swirling green mass that waned around the pupil and under those eyelids. "He did."

Nyx froze mid step. No, it couldn't be. He was supposed to be in New York, on the other side of the country. He wasn't here. No, it wasn't possible.

"He stopped breathing." Erebus put a hand over the boy's heart, feeling a faint beat that was slowing. "His heart's still alive but it won't be for long. He's obviously a demigod so we need to take him back to the House of Night. We didn't bring any Nectar or Ambrosia with us. Come on."

But no one moved to help Erebus take the kid. Nyx and Tartarus were staring gobsmacked at the boy. It quickly got on Erebus' nerves. So what if he just beat a Frikádes they couldn't. He swallowed his pride so why couldn't they swallow theirs.

"Come on! What's the matter with you?" Erebus yelled. "I understand-"

"You understand nothing!" Tartarus snapped. "That is Perseus Jackson, bane of Kronos and Gaia, bearer of the Achilles's Curse, Praetor of New Rome, Leader of Camp Half-Blood, one of the Seven, Saviour of Olympus and one of its Heroes, and the only demigod son of Poseidon! One of the only demigods to fall into Tartarus and live and the destroyer of countless monsters!"

"And now slayer of a Frikádes!" Erebus yelled. "I understand that helping a demigod that escaped you and help put your wife back to sleep goes against your nature. But what if he could help us? He slayed Sammael with his blood. We could use him to help us!"

"If he even wants to help," Nyx spoke. "Tartarus and I both tried to kill him. What makes you think he'll help?"

"To save the world."

 **Line Break 1**

 ** _The House of Night, Tartarus_**

Percy's eyes fluttered open, his first sight being the dark ceiling. Silence buzzed in his ears, reminding him that this wasn't where he was supposed to be. He breathed slowly, trying not to panic. What was the last thing he remembered?

Sammael. He remembered almost getting beaten. Then he put some of his blood into its throat, and smashed its brain. How he felt like he was molding the organ like a tub of Play-Doh. How it felt to manipulate blood.

It was hard to put into words. Euphoric, Percy guessed. Not hard, just different. Like driving a Toyota but then changing into a Honda. It wasn't hard to control his blood. It was harder to bond it to cells in Sammael.

He killed Sammael. And then he passed out.

But was he sure he killed Sammael? He didn't know if Sammael somehow survived that and instead of killing him, kidnapped Percy to use as a weapon for his evil purposes. It wouldn't be the first time he was asked to deviate to the bad guy's side.

But then what about the three people in the clearing that were fighting Sammael? Did he kill them? The woman was still awake so she would have put up a fight. And the clangs would have woken him up. Actually, he couldn't have been asleep that long.

Percy reached and ran a hand through his hair. A habit if someone didn't know what he was doing. If Percy could run a hand through his hair with no problem and no clinks of metal, then he wasn't chained. Which meant he wasn't in enemy territory, or at least they didn't think of him as a bad enough threat to waste shackles.

His body was stiff. His joints cracked and his vision swam once he sat up. The bed he was laying on was a rather small one, though fit for his frame. The sheets were black and a dark purple, both sheets and comforter were as soft as silk. The pillow was in a red pillow case, properly fluffed and everything. He was wearing a red and black hospital gown, he realized. He was glad he still had underwear on.

Looking around the room, he realized he wasn't in a dungeon. The walls were made of stone and there wasn't a window, yes, but it looked more like a hospital wing. Smelled like one too. Percy was attached to IV's full of some kind of golden liquid. It looked like nectar, but if that was the case he should have been dead by now. He felt great, after all.

No one else was in the room, him having the small room all to himself. There were two doors, one to the left and another in front of the bed. Thinking the latter one was for leaving the room, he went into the left one first.

He was right. The left door led to a bathroom with the same decorum as the main room. The walls were stone and black with little accents of purple and red everywhere. There was no mirror, but only a sink, shower, and a dirty clothes hamper with his old clothes in it. Oddly enough, his boots were no where to be found.

He stripped out of his hospital gown and stepped into the shower and turned it on. The water washed over him, easing his aching joints. He set his hands on the walls of the shower, his mind immediately going to Annabeth. It had been all he could think about for the last week as he went and when he lived in Alaska. His heart ached but he didn't want to cry. He wouldn't. No matter how much his heart wanted to.

Instead, he chose to be angry. She broke his trust, his _loyalty._ And he wasn't sure if he give it back to her. He knew he was easy to give out trust, but Annabeth had been his best friend since he was twelve years old and then that blossomed into more. But only when Luke was dead and had no chance of coming back.

He didn't think he could go to Camp Half-Blood again. Not yet. Sure, if something happened he'd gladly come back to fix it. But if they had a millennia of peace... he would want to be left alone by the gods. They only seem to cause him heartache.

He lost his mom when he was twelve, met Tyson when he was thirteen, had his best friend kidnapped when he fourteen and had two friends die. The summer after, he was kissed, blown up, Calypso had fallen in love with him, he had nearly entered a relationship with someone else, and lost almost half the camp in a battle after the Labyrinth. And don't forget, child of the First Great Prophecy, had his memory erased, was a kid in the Second Great Prophecy, almost destroyed the world from a nose bleed- oh, and found out his girlfriend was using him as a rebound for his dead enemy. Who could forget that?

He stepped out of the shower dry but his hair was semi wet. He didn't feel like drying it completely. He got his dirty clothes out of the hamper and put them on. Riptide suddenly appeared in his pocket and Percy smiled. He left the jacket. A jacket with a bloody hole in the sleeve didn't seem appealing to him. At least, not as proper attire to go out. That's what his mom would have said.

Percy put his worn hospital gown in the hamper and left.

Wandering around aimlessly was his plan. It was a large place, exactly like his hospital room. Black stone with red and purple accents, the floor was cold but held an odd sort of warmness- like the place was alive and knew exactly where he was going to step.

Percy walked along the hallway with no doors for half an hour before he found an actual door. It was small and wooden, with a shining silver doorknob. It didn't seem like it belonged there but curiosity got the better of him and he opened it. It opened into a large room with two thrones inside.

They were magnificent and each was as dark as the abyss to Tartarus- really, _really_ dark. The one on his left had a giant moon carved into it, making it look like a new moon. The one on the right had curved and straight designs etched into it, making it look like it was breathing somehow. Percy was too in awe of the thrones to notice three people walk up behind him.

"Excuse me," a voice said. Percy whirled around to see the three people who were in the clearing standing behind him. The girl wasn't looking at him and the larger man was glaring at him, as if Percy insulted his girlfriend.

Percy got a closer look at them, finding things that weren't at all normal. The smaller man had no eyes. It looked like that, anyway. He had no irises or whites. It was just the black expanse of darkness. His hair was a shaggy and not in a ponytail, having it fall to his shoulders. He was muscled, only wearing a black v-neck T-shirt.

The woman was shorter than Percy had thought. In the clearing, she seemed almost as tall as him. Now, however, she seemed at least five three, if not a couple inches shorter. She had sparkling eyes, jet black hair that curled as it fell, and a body Percy couldn't help but rake his eyes over once or twice. She looked to be a little older than him, maybe nineteen by his estimate.

The large guy was heavily scarred and muscled. He was only wearing shorts and a cloak that covered his face, showing much of his scarred torso and legs. His eyes glowed a purple-red... violet, almost. There was something about him that was just so familiar, but Percy couldn't put his finger on it. He was also glaring at the demigod which caused Percy to narrow his eyes at him. Something which clearly shocked the man.

"I am pleased you woke up," the smaller man said. Percy turned his attention to him, noticing how the light seemed to avoid him. "We thought you might have been in a coma."

A... coma? Why would he have been in a coma? He couldn't have been asleep for that long. "How... how long have I been asleep?" he was afraid to ask but he had to. If it was anything like Mt. Saint Helens...

"Three months."

Percy's world shattered. _Three... months!_ He had been gone for three months. Had Chiron tried to contact him? Any of his friends? His mother? Oh gods... his mother. She would be worried sick by now. And he missed the deadline for the school. She has to be freaking out by now. Did she call Chiron? Had he told her what happened? That he lied to her?

"You've been in that room, slurping down nectar and ambrosia through an IV for the last three months," the man continued. "We've kept you here, just in case any of the Frikádes found Sammael's body and caught your scent."

Percy narrowed his eyes. "And where is here?"

"The House of Night," the man said brightly. He swept his arms and gestured to the place around them. "Welcome to my humble abode."

That didn't sound right. _House of Night. Night... Night... Ni...x. Nyx. The House of Nyx._ Percy's eyes widened as he slowly looked to the girl. She was different. Her hair wasn't as short or glossy as it used to be, her attire wasn't filled with stars, and her eyes weren't as bright as them. But there was no denying it anymore. He had saved Nyx, the Primordial Goddess that tried to kill them when they were in... Tartarus.

He was in Tartarus. The gaping, swirling hole of a face flashed in Percy's mind and he looked to the biggest man. The color of the vortex, it was the same color as the man's eyes. That was why he looked familiar. Percy was ready to fight him when it came time to leave Tartarus.

"Shit."

"Don't be afraid," the smaller man said before Percy could run. "They do not wish to hurt you."

"Might want to talk to him then," Percy said as he gestured to Tartarus. He looked absolutely ready to kill, even without a weapon. He didn't know about Nyx; she still refused to look at him. "What do you want?"

Small Man took a breath. "We need your help." Silence reigned in for a few seconds. Percy kept waiting for someone to say 'April Fools' and get over with it, but it never came. The silence dragged on for more seconds and kept going.

"Wait... you're serious?"

Small Man nodded. "What was your impression of Sammael?"

Percy thought about lying, just to stall to get some way out of there, but he had a feeling that Small Man would know when he was lying. He sighed, resigning to telling the truth. It never hurts, after all.

"Severely creepy and way too strong," he answered. "He seemed... unnatural."

"And if I told you that there were more of them?" Small Man asked. "That Sammael wasn't the only one out there?"

"What do you mean _'more of them'!"_ Percy asked. "There are more like Sammael? Almost impossible to kill, sound older than Kronos, have giant leeches in their mouths?"

"Sammael was the weakest Frikádes," Tartarus spoke. "He doesn't only have impenetrable skin, but he can only die if you attack his heart. There are others out there, stronger and faster and smarter than Sammael-"

"Hold on!" Percy interrupted. "You said he can die only by attacking his _heart!"_ Percy ran a hand through his hair, completely at a loss. The heart? The _fucking heart!_ What the absolute fuck! Who doesn't die after their brain is turned into alphabet soup!

"Perseus, what's wrong?" Small man asked. Percy was now muttering _'no no no no'_ over and over again. He couldn't believe it! Why didn't he crush the heart? It seemed so simple! But no, he had to follow the blood flow of the vein he picked and just attacked the brain instead of waiting. God _damn!_

"I didn't crush his heart." His voice was tiny. He shut his eyes tightly, wanting to hit something or for something to hit him. He wanted Tartarus or Nyx to get angry with him and sock him in the face. "I followed the blood flow and crushed his brain... I didn't crush his heart."

Percy opened his eyes and turned to Small Man. "What happens because I didn't crush his heart?"

"He reforms and regenerates," Small Man answered. "But for him to be defeated in such a way and not just stabbed or beaten... It might take a few years for him to get back to full power. Maybe even a decade or two."

"I'm going after him," he said, not thinking about the fact he was in Tartarus. He made to leave but his arm was suddenly gripped by a small hand. He looked to see Nyx.

"We need your help, Perseus." Her eyes shown with tears. "My husband and I aren't going to last long; we're fading. We need help fighting the Frikádes. There are others, stronger than Sammael. They want to kill the world and none except the three of us are willing to do anything about it. We need help. A warrior to fight with us against the Frikádes. _You're_ help. Please... Percy." She let go of his arm and waited. Then he sighed.

"If it's as bad as you say it is, why don't you contact the Olympians?" Percy asked. "The gods could probably do something about it."

"Zeus would try to use them as weapons," Tartarus spoke. He walked up to Percy, causing the demigod to have to tilt his head to look the Primordial in the eyes. "There are maybe four thousand Frikádes in the cells below Tartarus. Out of all of those, a hundred or so have escaped. Most are mindless beasts, except a few. The Mindless Ones follow those who do have minds, and will accept and do anything they say. All they have to do is show a little might."

"So Zeus would throw his master bolt around and have a leash on a hundred Frikádes he could do anything he wants with," Percy summarized. He understood the logic behind their reasoning. He even agreed that Zeus was a power hungry bastard- no offense to Rhea- and an army of things like Sammael would be horrible.

"Before I help you," Percy said. "I need two things from you."

"What are they?" Small Man asked.

"I need to talk to my mom. Let her know what's going on-"

"Absolutely not!" Tartarus roared. "She could go straight to Zeus and-"

"I had my memory taken away!" Percy yelled, silencing Tartarus. "I was taken away and put in a coma for eight fucking months by Hera or Juno or whatever the hell you wanna call her and I was gone for longer when I had to keep your wife from destroying the world- the same goal these Frikádes have! My mom had gone through almost a year having no idea if I was even alive!

"I am going to see her! I'm not going to leave her in the dark and think that I'm dead for however long I'm gone!" Percy had tears in his eyes now but they refused to shed. "I am not going to have Paul think that after all I've been through that I was killed looking for the Party Ponies! I'm not going to have my sister think that I'm dead before she even got to get to know me!"

Percy took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. When he spoke, it was low and careful. "I'm going to see my mother. After everything that I've done to her, she deserves to know that I'm alive. I'll even take you with me if you want but I am going to see her. I'm going to say goodbye."

"I believe that is reasonable," Small Man said before Tartarus could say anything. "Tartarus will go with you to see your mother, but only a few minutes. You can't be on the surface long before Sammael could smell it. He has your blood; he can track you."

"That's useful information I could have used before I tried to walk out."

"Perseus, perhaps it is better that your mother doesn't know what you're fighting. It would cause her to panic and tell the gods" Percy nodded and agreed with Small Man's reasoning. "What is the second thing?"

"I need to know everything you know," Percy said. "I need to know everything if I'm going to help you. Where they come from, why they are in cells _under_ Tartarus, _everything._ "

"Very well," Small Man said. "You shall visit your mother and then I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"Great..." Percy trailed off, not wanting to call a Primordial 'Small Man' to his face.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized. "We haven't been formally introduced. I am Erebus, Primordial of Darkness and Shadows."

"Of course you are."

 **Line Break 2**

Sally Jackson sat on her couch, the same spot she was in three months prior when she talked to her son. Her son who has not been heard or seen since then. It was three in the afternoon. Paul was at the school because of a parent teacher conference and Alex was at a daycare. Sally had found a nice one near her work.

But today, she didn't go to work. In fact, for the last three hours she had sat on the couch and cried. At twelve, she Iris-Messaged Camp Half-Blood's Activities Director, Chiron, to see if Percy had updated him about his finding of the Party Ponies. Chiron revealed that Percy was never sent to locate the Party Ponies but rather left when his heart was broken.

Since the IM ended, she wondered why he couldn't have just told her what was going on. Why couldn't he have told her the truth?

She was also angry at Annabeth. How could that little wrench break Percy's heart and basically use him as a rebound? How? How could she moan Luke Castellan's name when she was with one of the greatest demigods to ever walk the Earth?

The apartment was unnaturally quiet without Percy or Alex to occupy it. The quiet seemed to hum in her ears, reminding her that she hadn't seen that something was wrong with Percy. That she didn't help him and keep him from going to Alaska.

That was one thing that confused her. After all Percy had gone through on the Land Beyond the Gods, why would he go back there? The giant, the cannibals, the griffons... He was attacked and almost drowned in a giant pool of mud. Why go back to that place?

A rapid and hurried knock rapt on the door and broke her out of her thoughts. The knock didn't stop but grew more impatient as she got up to open it. Before the door was open an inch, Percy- looking panic stricken and very much alive- man handled the door and forced it to open more.

"Percy!" Sally exclaimed in shock. She absentmindedly started closing the door when another man walked in. He was tall, shirtless, scarred, and had purplish-red eyes that swirled. Sally looked to Percy who had rushed to the window and was peering behind the blinds to the streets below.

"Percy where have you been?" Sally demanded. Her tears that had been forming were starting to trail down her cheeks. "Everyone has been worried about you. Chiron, Grover, Annabeth! They haven't been able to reach you in three months. Even the gods haven't been able to find you-"

"Mom! Mom! Mom!" Percy put his hands on her shoulders, interrupting her. Her thoughts were running at a thousand miles per second but Percy's sweaty face and sand covered clothes kept her from voicing them.

"I need you to be quiet for a second... Please." He turned to the large man. "Do you sense any of them?"

"No," the man answered. "But that could change any second. You have a unique sense of smell and you just wafted it like a pie through an open window of a bakery."

"How long do we have?" Percy asked.

"Five minutes or so." The man raised an eyebrow as Percy started to talk. "Unless," he said before Percy could voice his thoughts, "you want them here... and with your mother."

Percy glared at the man before turning to Sally. He was different. His hair was darker and his tan was more brown than bronze. His eyes were also different. Their green was accompanied by red, black, white, and purple, each color in numerous little specks that floated around his irises.

She wanted to ask him so many questions but he started talking before she could even open her mouth. "Mom, I don't have a lot of time. I can't be on the surface long. I need you to listen to me carefully. This never happened. I never came to see you and you don't know that I'm okay.

"I'm going to be gone for a while... A long while. I found something that the gods can't know about and it might take me a long time to fix it." Sally tried to interrupt but Percy wasn't having it. "Mom! If you tell the Olympians, I will die! Do you understand? No one can know you've had contact with me. Let them think I disappeared. I can't have them looking for me."

This time, she managed to get a question out. "Percy? Are you going against the gods?"

It seemed to surprise him. "What? No, no! Why, after two wars, would I go against them now? If I wanted to go against them I would have joined Kronos or Gaia when they asked me to." He took a deep breath but glanced at the man leaning on the door frame. "I found living weapon. It's after me and if Thunder Thighs gets his hands on it, it would be bad. So I need you to keep this a secret. I couldn't just disappear on you again without a word when I could help it."

"Percy-"

"Time to go," the man interrupted. He sat up and walked up to Percy.

"But-" Percy tried to argue but the man gripped his elbow. "Tartarus- please- a few more minutes, Macho Man?"

"Tartarus?" Sally almost shrieked. "Doesn't he want to kill you?"

"Still not sure he _doesn't_ want to," was Percy's elegant reply before they were gone in a fog of purple mist, leaving Sally alone in the apartment to collapse onto the couch. Half an hour later, Paul Blofis would come home to find his wife on her couch, smiling but crying at the same time as she muttered that her little boy was friends with Tartarus.

 **Line Break 3**

Percy stumbled as he landed on the black stone floors of the House of Night's throne room. Tartarus simply stood there and smirked as Percy stumbled. Percy straightened and turned to the Primordial of the Pit with a glare.

"Nice moves Arm Pit," Percy snarled. "I was still talking to her."

"Any longer and Sammael would have pinpointed where your scent originated. If you spent too much time in that apartment, he would have been drawn to New York and we can't have that. It would make things too complicated."

"I concur," Erebus chimed in as he made himself known. He had conjured a chair and table and had waited for them to come back. "It would make things a hassle if the gods found out about the Frikádes too soon or at all. If they found out about them... Zeus would probably have the gods capture them instead of kill them. And Sammael would find out where you lived and send more Frikádes to New York."

"Speaking of Sammael and his shit bag boy band," Percy said. "It's time for you to tell me who's garage their parents' let them practice in."

"Perseus-"

"Percy."

"-do you know how the universe came into being?" Percy nodded his head.

"Chaos sort of became the big bang and wham, Earth."

"Yes," Erebus said. He gestured for Percy to take a seat and Percy did. He leaned back and listened to the Primordial's explanation. Tartarus sat and so did Nyx- though Percy was pretty sure she appeared out of air.

"When we first existed, we weren't the beings we were today. We were violent- most of us still are. But back then, it was all of us." Erebus paused and took a breath. "When we first started out and had our kids... we were disappointed. They were nothing like us. Take Hemera and Aether for example. Light and Day to my Darkness and Nyx's Night.

"Each of the Primordials were a little disappointed in their kids. They were so different from us..." Erebus stopped to look Percy straight in the eye. "So we decided if the nature couldn't bring us the children we wanted, we'd do it ourselves. We created the Frikádes."

"At the time they were perfect. Each of the Primordials did it, even the youngest of us. Hemera and Aether did it as well, convinced that it was the way. They were strong, fast, smart, and they couldn't have been killed by celestial bronze."

Percy's brain nearly short circuited but he held his tongue and didn't interrupt.

"But while it did give us children that were almost exactly like us, it voided them of their humanity. They became partially immortal monsters. And then they too, began to have children. And their children had children and so on and so forth.

"When Gaia had the titans, her and Ouranos' first prides, her Frikáde became jealous. He convinced the others that soon they were going to be forgotten and killed." Erebus shuddered. "Together, they hatched a plan to kill the Earth and everything in it."

Erebus turned to Tartarus. "It was only thanks to my brother that Nyx and I saw the error of our ways. That the Frikádes were monsters that needed to be put down. But we couldn't kill them." He turned back to Percy with tears in his eyes. "But as much as we should have, we couldn't. Despite what they had done and what they were, they were still family. So we locked them away much to our Primordial Family's demands that they be let go. Tartarus created prisons under the Pit to hold them and they've been quiet ever sense.

"Until Kronos was defeated."

"I don't blame you," Percy said. He was surprised at what came out of his mouth was true. He didn't blame them. "How humans can learn so much more in their short and tiny life span than an immortal with millennia of experience is beyond me, but I don't blame you. The only question I have for you is: Are you ready to kill them? I have to. It's my nature to take out monsters, especially those who want to destroy the world, but are you ready to fight them?"

Percy watched as Erebus took a moment to look at Nyx and Tartarus. They nodded and together, they said, "Yes."

"Great. What now? I literally just found out that my weapon doesn't kill these things." Percy asked. Truth be told, he had no idea what he was doing. These were Primordial beings who somehow haven't killed him yet, even when he called one Arm Pit. To him, that was scarier than Zeus or any of the Olympians. If he called Zeus something (like Thunder Thighs), Zeus would try to kill him, Apollo and Hermes would laugh, Poseidon would try to keep him alive, Ares would growl, Artemis would snigger, Athena would turn red, and the rest of the Olympians would just wait it out. Now that he was with the Primordials, he was on edge.

"Yes, Nyx and I were talking about that while you were gone," Erebus said. He gestured to her and she cleared her throat.

"Many of the Frikádes are excellent fighters. And while you are good, we do not believe you are on par with them." Percy nodded, showing he totally agreed. He barely lived against Sammael, and if he wasn't the top brass then Percy was sure to die the way he was now. "That is why we think you need to train. And we might have the perfect place. It's called The Arena."

"Why does that sound ominous and not as fun as the Field of Mars?" Percy asked.

Tartarus was the one who answered. "It's my Arena. It's run by Perses, the Titan of Destruction, and it's monsters versus monsters. Monsters compete for the ultimate prize of getting out of the Pit early. If you fight your way to the top, you win. It's brutal and almost no one but the top monsters win."

"Which is why you would be perfect for it," Erebus said to Percy.

"How would he even get in their?" Tartarus demanded. "Perses hates all demigods. How do you expect him not to die by the titan's hands?"

"Ask him to take _Perseus_ in."

 **Line Break 4**

The Arena was a giant Colosseum. It large, black, and near the throat of Tartarus. Erebus, Tartarus, and Percy appeared a few yards away from the door. Tartarus was just as he remembered it: large, glassy, and basically his nightmares. The smell was horrible too-

"Hey, why can I breathe normally?" Percy yelled out to the two Primordials as he stopped to take in even more deep breaths, trying to see if he was going to die any time soon. "My skin was practically boiling off the minute I landed last time, so why isn't it now?"

"All of us gave you minor blessing while you were asleep," Erebus answered. "You were almost dead by the time we got you to the House of Night and the air wasn't doing you any favors so Nyx, Tartarus, and I blessed you so you could survive."

"What kind of blessing?" Percy asked curiously. He'd never been blessed before. Hestia said it was really rare for a god to bless a mortal. Most would spontaneously burn to ash. "And why am I not dead?"

"They're only minor blessings," Erebus said. Percy didn't miss the look he shot Tartarus as he was about to answer. "From me, you can hide in shadows easily. Nyx gave you the ability know your position by the stars. Tartarus gave you the ability to breathe in Tartarus. There main focus was to heal you so you don't have any great powers but rather accelerated healing. All blessings come with it, even the small ones."

"Oh, okay." Percy didn't know what to say. Sure, it was cool he got accelerated healing but it seemed like a missed opportunity to get something cool. He wasn't power hungry or anything, but getting an ability like Shadow Travel would have been cool to have. Useful too.

The gates to the Arena were open and Percy could already hear the cheers of several hundred drunks. Yankee Stadium let him know how that sounded. He groaned. Percy knew exactly what was inside. Piper McLean's father was in a movie about a gladiator. The stadium wasn't in the Pit, but the sounds and echoes of clashing metal and snarling all but gave it away.

Percy didn't pay any attention to where they were going; he was more interested in the cells. Each one was occupied by a monster. There were so many, Percy didn't know how to keep track of all the different ones. He was pretty sure he saw Kelli in one of them.

They stopped in front of a pair of large double doors. They were decorated with scenes of swords and battlefields. Erebus knocked quietly on one of the doors and waited. He didn't have to wait long as a soft voice told them to enter.

The inside was so much more different than the rest of the Arena. It looked like a classy study a rich guy would have in his mansion. A classical song that Percy didn't know the name of played loudly but was quiet when the doors were closed.

Crystal lights hung from the ceiling and carpet padded the ground. A man was playing a piano in the corner, the acoustics bouncing off the walls as he played softly. Erebus and Tartarus looked at each other but Percy was tapping his fingers against his thigh as he followed the rhythm. It was nice.

When the song finished, the man sighed in content and looked over to his guests. He smiled broadly. The demigod's hand slipped into his pocket, just in case.

"Claire de Lune," the man said. One of the less known classical pieces but still one of the best. Lord Erebus. Lord Tartarus. An honor to see you as always. What may I do for you? "

"We have a demigod that is of use to my brother and I," Erebus replies as he gestured to Percy. "Perseus Jackson, the bane of Giants, Monsters, Titans, and Gods alike."

As attention turned to him Percy gave a small wave. "Hey." Percy saw Tartarus roll his eyes and felt like sticking his tongue out at him. But before he could do it, Perses started talking.

"Perseus- the destroyer. The shoe fits, don't you think?" Perses started to walk around Percy, examining him. "Out of all the demigods in history, he has killed more than all of them."

"Perses," Tartarus called. "Some have escaped. He killed Sammael. He is going to fight with my siblings and I. He needs to train."

Perses smiled. "Ah," he said. "Then his weapon won't be of use. Follow me. I finished those weapons you asked me to make."

He started walking further into the room and they followed. He led them passed masses of celestial bronze and imperial gold weapons hooked on wracks and into a secret back room hidden behind a bookshelf. The room was cold and the few lights in there seemed to be suffocating.

Erebus waved his hand and the shadows retreated, revealing several wracks of different styled weapons. Japanese, German, Scottish, you name it. Some of them, Percy was sure we're illegal on the surface.

"Perseus," Perses called. "Pick one. Let them call to you. The perfect one for you will reach out to you. Just listen for it."

Percy nodded and started looking in the maze of weapons. As he kept walking, he soon list sight of the Titan and Primordials. He was looking out for anything that that resembled a xiphos. He had battled with Riptide for years. He wasn't just going to change weapons like a switch.

But as he walked, it wasn't a sound that drew him in but rather a feeling. It was strong, like a string being pulled. He could feel everything being slowed around him. It was like when he fought Kronos and was stuck in time. He followed the feeling, as it was stronger to his right than to his left.

He navigated the wracks until it was almost impossible to walk. In front of him was a sword, the blade being nearly the size of his arm. As soon as he picked it up, the feeling stopped. Nothing was slow and his heart wasn't racing a thousand beats per minute.

The sword was black, there was no guard, the blade like a machete and serrated, and the handle was uneven. Part of the handle on opposite sides stuck out, allowing Percy to grip it with his fingers and pull it apart. The sword divided, turning into an even two. Two identical blades were in his hands, the side where they met was completely flat.

"The wakizashi," a voice said from behind him. Percy whirled around, having a sword at the voices throat and another at the person's abdomen. "A very sneaky weapon. No one could see that coming as you pull them apart and one becomes two. I can see why it called to you; you can do amazing damage and destruction with it."

Percy had nothing to say and just followed Perses to the front of the secret room. Erebus and Tartarus were both waiting and seemed surprised he found a sword. Percy... Percy didn't even notice he had hooked it back together.

"What kind of metal is this?" Percy asked. It looked like stygian iron but it was accented with a dark red that seemed more like violet than anything else. Percy looked to Erebus but it was Tartarus that answered.

"Tartaranean steel," Tartarus said. "One of the only metals with a semi-consciousness. It helps the owner the best it can, putting instincts into him or her that helps them fight."

"Great," Percy said. "You ripped off Harry Potter."

"Perseus," Erebus interrupted before an argument could break out. "Perhaps it is time to leave you to Perses. We will be back as soon as Perses tells us you are ready and have completed his training."

"Wait! The Titan of Destruction is doing my training?" Percy yelled. "Do you not see the irony of this when we're trying to keep a low profile?"

"No." Then they were gone with a swirl of purple mist and Percy was left with a grinning titan. Somehow, Percy knew he would not be able to go home fast enough.


	4. Three

The Arena, Tartarus

The crowd was cheering, the sand covered floor was vibrating, and black blood matted the walls and stands. Monsters yelled out profanities, goading the gladiator to fight harder. Perses sat in his top box, looking at the scene with a mask of indifference. His number two, however, stared amazed at the mass of utter destruction that the gladiator had wrought.

Kelli the Empousa sat on Perses lap, watching as the figure fought off eight with only a sword and no armor. What she could see was a mess of black hair, green eyes, and scars- a lot of scars. He only wore pants, bearing his sweaty and scarred torso to the monsters. He had two wires come up from his pocket and enter his ears; he was listening to music.

She knew who the gladiator was, everyone that fought him remembered him. Most couldn't even say they fought him. Slaughtered by him, maybe, but not fought. But everyone knew who he was now. They used to just know his name. Now they know him.

Looking down at the Arena, Kelli couldn't find it in her monster heart to hate him. Yes, he'd killed her repeatedly and stopped Kronos and Gaia from taking over, but now that he was a Warrior of Tartarus she had no beef with him. Which is why the monsters that respect Tartarus don't mention a thing on the world up top. Nothing to the gods or their children or anywhere public that anyone might overhear.

The gladiator was none other than Perseus Jackson the Ravager. He'd earned that title by Perses the Titan of Destruction, himself. Titles were something in Tartarus. Anybody who's anybody has a title. When you fought, you got titles. Kelli had fought and gotten a title herself: The Jezebel.

As Kelli watched Perseus Jackson tear through his opponents, she turned to the man she was sitting on. Perses was leaning on the arm of his chair with his chin in his hand, watching the fight with narrowed eyes and furrowed eyebrows. His lips were in a thin line, clearly unhappy and thinking.

"What's wrong?" She asked. Perses turned to her, his brown eyes heavy and wondering.

"It's been nearly nine months and he still has yet to fight to full capacity. Or delve into his powers... He's holding back," Perses answered. Kelli looked back to the fight, unable to see whatever Perses was seeing. All she saw was Perseus Jackson slaughtering another group of monsters.

"Maybe monsters aren't a challenge for him," Kelli supplied. She didn't take her eyes off the fight and her eyes raking down the gladiator's figure, taking in every muscle and scar that made him oh-so sexy. She could feel Perses' eyes on her and she elaborated. "Think about it," she explained as she now turned to the titan. "He's been fighting monsters since he was twelve. His first monster was a Fury, after all. He's probably fought all species of monsters; they just aren't a challenge anymore."

It hurt to admit that a demigod may be better than all the monsters in Tartarus, but it was the truth and Kelli was nothing if not blunt when speaking to or about higher beings. And yes, Perseus counted as a higher being. With that body of his, he had to be.

Perses hummed, giving her input some thought. She turned back to the fight just in time to see Perseus win the match. He stuck that black sword into one of the hellhounds and noticed a dracaena slither behind him. Perseus jerked the sword through the dog and swung full around to chop the dracaena's head clean of her shoulders. The monsters roared in approval.

"You might be right," Perses said. He wasn't looking at her but studying Perseus intently. Suddenly, a bright smile graced his face and Kelli knew he had something planned. He turned in his seat and gestured for the cyclops that was waiting by the top box doorway to come closer. "I need you to bring out A-23." The cyclops' eye widened in disbelief and asked for assurance that Perses wasn't joking. "I mean it. Have him wait at the gates. The next fight will be delicious."

"Who is A-23?" Kelli asked as the cyclops left. Perses only smiled.

"An uncle of mine," he said.

Kelli was shocked. A titan? Who? She was brought out of her musings as Perses tapped her leg and she had to move. He stood, walking to the front of the box and getting each monster's attention. "Monsters of all genders," he announced. "Have I got a surprise for you today!"

Line Break 1

Percy panted, his breaths coming out ragged as he held his hands behind his head. He'd been fighting for nearly three hours, Perses having decided that if a monster died that others could jump in at anytime. That had been happening until Perses gave the signal to stop. That left him with eight but they were easy to dispatch. Predictable, really. After years of fighting the same monsters, it was just wasn't a challenge anymore.

As soon as the last dracaena was killed, Percy could hear the monsters' cheers through the volume of his music. The monsters turned and so did Percy, to see Perses about to announce something. He listened to the crescendo of the last verse before he took out the plugs and put them around his neck. Claire de Lune blasted through the Apple Ear Buds on repeat, the piano sounding through the air and into his ears.

Claire de Lune had been stuck in Percy's head for weeks after he heard Perses playing it. He would find himself humming it and tapping it on the way to each fight, and sometimes even during a fight. Eventually, Perses noticed and gave Percy an Ipod with Claire de Lune on it.

"Monsters of all genders," Perses announced. "Have I got a surprise for you today! Despite your best efforts, you could not beat Perseus the Ravager. Seems like he's better than all of you. All very sad."

Several monsters booed and snarled. Perses looked on with indifference. He was wearing his usual suit with his hair neatly combed and Kelli, as usual, on his arm. The suit was black with a white shirt and a red tie. It would seem very odd but it did look good on Perses. Even Percy had to admit that.

"That does beg the question," Perses yelled over the ruckus, "is he better than a titan?"

A hush feel over the crowd and Percy narrowed his eyes. Was Perses going to fight him? What did he mean better than a titan? What was Perses planning? Was Perses actually going to train him instead of just making him fight monsters for hours on end?

"Today, we will find out." Perses waved his hand to the end of the Arena's battleground towards the one and only gate in the rink. The steel doors rolled upwards with a creak and a very tall and muscular person stepped out. He was scraggly, with untamed white hair, and pure silver eyes. And was one of the only immortals Percy actually liked.

Iapetus- or Bob- the Titan of Mortal Life, stepped out of the gate with a spear in hand and wearing a tattered and ripped blue janitor's outfit. His features were schooled into a cold mask of contempt as he looked at the monsters and Perses. But it cracked as soon as he saw Percy, surprise being the only thing underneath his mask.

"Monsters," Perses announced, "may I introduce Iapetus, the Titan of Mortal Life!" The crowd went wild, like it was the best thing to ever happen to the Arena. And considering what had been going on for Percy the last couple of months, he thought that it probably was. "Today's last match- should it last as long as I believe it might- will be Iapetus the Piercer versus Perseus the Ravager!

Bob was still staring at Percy, probably not hearing a thing Perses just said. Instead, he was struggling for words. Percy supposed he could understand not understanding something that clearly happened. So he decided to break the ice.

"Uh... Hey."

That snapped Bob out of whatever trance he was in as he suddenly asked, "Percy? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Bob... It's me." Percy looked at Perses before turning back to his friend. Perses was no help in any situation - except Claire de Lune. He was actually useful in that situation. He could easily see that Perses was trying to make it challenge for him. To get him to sweat, to use his powers, to use the full extent of his new weapon. Percy had to give Perses credit; he knew how make Percy squirm.

"How?" Bob demanded. "How are you here? I saw you enter the elevator! I shut the doors myself! How are you here?"

"Do you want the long answer or the short one?" Percy asked. Bob glared at him and immediately put his hands up in a defensive 'fine' gesture. He heard a sigh and Kelli was still standing at the patio of the top box.

"Perseus is a Warrior of Lord Tartarus and is here to receive training from Perses," Kelli shouted down to Bob. Percy ticked when she said his full name but he pushed it down. He ended up giving a large growl, something he picked up from the hellhounds he'd fought. He found it made people even more skittish around him than they already were. And he had to smirk when Kelli paled a bit and shook her head to get some color back into her cheeks.

"He- uh- He's been here for nine months and has been asked by Lord Tartarus himself to be kept a secret," Kelli went on. Percy noticed her cheeks were a little too red and just shrugged. Maybe Perses was doing something to her? Not his business.

"What about Annabeth?" Just the name made Percy growl like he was a hellhound himself. Over the last few months, Percy had been able to sort out his feelings. He didn't love Annabeth anymore. She had totally shattered any sense of loyalty or love for her when she moaned Luke's name. All that was left was a sense of loathing for leading him on for so long.

"We broke up." There was an edge to Percy's voice that warned Bob from asking the next logical question but it seemed he was oblivious to it.

"Why? You were in love."

"No," Percy argued. "I was in love. She... She just wanted someone to fill the void." Percy looked Bob in the eye. "I learned that when she moaned another man's name." Percy's eyes flashed as he replayed the night. When he kissed her neck and ran a hand across the tan skin of her stomach... she let out the name of Luke, and it tore him to shreds.

The monsters around him started whispering and Percy could just see the rumor flying through the air, out of the monster's lips and into their ears. He could tell that it was going to reach the House of Night in a matter of hours. Maybe a day if he was lucky.

Bob looked shocked and about to say something when Perses suddenly appeared and interrupted. "Enough," he said. "You can talk later. Right now, I promised these swell monsters a good fight and you're the challenger, Uncle. So get fighting!"

"I will not fight him!" Bob declined.

"Don't think of it as fighting me," Percy said as Perses walked away. "Think of it as you training me. Monsters just aren't a challenge anymore." Some of the monsters roared. "So, come on. Train me."

Percy raised his sword, distinctly aware that he might have to break up Spice. Yes, he named his sword Spice. He also named the two blades when they first split apart. He called them Sweet and Sour. Why not? Names don't have to mean anything earth-shattering. They just had to mean something to Percy.

"I do not like this," Bob said.

"You'll get over it."

Percy attacked first. A quick jab at Bob's side, just to test the waters. Bob dodged expertly and a monster tossed him a spear. Despite that one time in the River Lethe, Percy had never actually fought Bob one on one. Not really. There was always something to help him. The river, Thalia and Nico, his immunity to water. Now, there was nothing but him and Bob. Sword against spear, talent against skills.

And maybe a power or two if things got out of hand.

The spear the monster had thrown to him was bronze, but not celestial. It was kind of like copper. The spear was barbed and serrated. Percy noted that the shaft was almost five feet long, blunt at the bottom, and perfectly balanced if Percy's senses were right.

"Come at me, Roomba," Percy taunted. He highly doubted that Bob knew what a Roomba was, but hey. Percy put one of his earphones in as he sidestepped one of Bob's thrusts. Claire de Lune blasted in his ear, taking away everything else. Percy followed the keys, always moving and sometimes humming it out loud. Percy had no idea why he like the song so much, but he did. He found his ADHD wasn't as bad when he was listening and he wasn't as distracted. Percy guessed that it was true what mother's say: listening to classical music does make you smarter.

Percy could still hear the monsters cheer but it was like static noise in the back of his mind; completely uninteresting and totally able to be ignored. What Percy couldn't ignore however, was Bob and his spear. Bob was a monster with it.

Percy clashed his sword against the shaft of the spear, watching as Bob shifted his feet to hold the weight of Percy's strike. Percy kept going at it. He slashed up and down and only ducked when Bob tried to spear him through the side.

He ducked under the shaft as Bob swung it at him and tried to slice the titan's side. Bob blocked it using the spearhead. Percy twisted, trying to get into Bob's guard, but every time he was shut down. The shaft of the spear was there to butt Percy away.

Percy hit the spearhead and made it drop to the floor and turned to Bob to strike, only to have a foot meet his chest as soon as he turned and fly into the wall ten feet away. The wall cracked, sending Percy through the slightly crumbling but thick wall. Percy was embedded a few inches into the wall with only thought in his mind: "Ow."

The monsters were silent and so was Percy's earbud. It was too late that he remembered that he kept the Ipod in his right back pocket... which was currently smashed into hard stone. Percy groaned. He doubted Perses would get him a new one and he really like the song.

Realizing that 'Just in Case' was for suckers, Percy pried himself out of the wall and into the awaiting gazes of monsters and titans. Bob was there, a cool facade on his face. Percy couldn't help but think that Bob may have known what a Roomba was.

There wasn't a sound as Spice became Sweet and Sour. The black swords shined as the Arena light hit them. Monsters gasped as they realized Percy was holding back. Perseus the Ravager was holding back on them but ended up slaughtering thousands of monsters the last few months anyways.

Percy smirked as he saw the look on Kelli and Bob's face. Bob looked somewhat calculating while having this look in his eye. Kelli looked absolutely shocked. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were wide with disbelief. He smiled wider when she noticed him looking.

He twirled Sweet and Sour in his hands, getting used to the feel of the flat handles against his palms, before he took off running at Bob. The titan swung his spear in greeting, allowing Percy to slide under it and rake Sweet's blade on Bob's ankle. It didn't break the skin but it sent a message: 'Don't go easy on me.' If he was going to kill Frikádes, he has to know if he can take a titan like Bob.

Bob seemed to get the message as he upped his game. Pretty soon, Percy was relying on his instincts and ADHD. Percy sliced his swords upwards only to come down and jump, twisting as he landed a kick on Bob's shoulder.

Percy lost track of time as he battled Bob. Things blurred around him, leaving only Bob and him. They were alone in a blur of color and slowing time. Bob blocked another hit from Sour but Sweet came around the side. A rip appeared in Bob's skin as Percy kicked off Bob's chest to narrowly miss a spear trying enter his throat.

As soon as Percy touched the ground, he was back in Bob's space. His swords clashed with Bob's spear, creating sparks as they touched. Bob broke the clash and whacked Percy across the face with the shaft of the spear and kicked him in the chest. Again.

Instead of moving, Percy suddenly brought his Sweet and Sour up and through Bob's ankle. Percy crossed the swords and shoved them down the way they came, severing the titan's Achilles Heel. Bob roared and batted Percy away with the back of his hand, sending him once again across the Arena.

Apparently he had been holding back. This made Percy smirk. At least now, he wouldn't. Percy rushed at Bob again, swords at the ready. Bob narrowed his eyes and Percy couldn't help but feel he was looking at Iapetus again. It made Percy's eye twitch.

Bob and Percy met in a simple clash that turned into a flurry of strikes. Bob had taken the offensive, now done with humoring Percy, leaving the nineteen year old to take defense. Percy ducked and slid under one of Bob's attacks and came back up only to jump over a sweep.

Percy couldn't get the chance to attack or turn Bob on the defensive. Even if Bob's ankle was useless, he still managed to push Percy to the limit and keep him there. But eventually, there was the final push.

It wasn't so much as a hit as rather a cannon. Percy was too busy noticing that Bob's foot was to the right that he didn't notice Bob's fist coming towards him.

Percy hit the ground. His head was throbbing, his vision was swimming, and he could hear the muffled gasps of the monsters watching the fight. He heard Perses chuckle of amusement. Percy swore as he rolled into his back to see Bob standing there with a worried face.

"I'm fine Roomba," Percy told him. It came out in a slight groan and the small chuckle Bob had wasn't helping his new found headache. "What did you hit me with? It felt like a freight train."

"My fist," Bob answered simply.

"Who knew a Roomba would have so much kick," Percy muttered just loud enough for Bob to hear. The scowl that came across his face made Percy smile cheekily.

"Well done!" Perses yelled from the top box. The monsters cheered in agreement. "Perseus the Ravager has just went against Iapetus the Piercer and almost won! Now all of you get out!"

Monsters grumbled but left, not wanting to incur the wrath of Perses. Percy laid on the floor, utterly exhausted as his muscles decided it was the right time to scream at him.

Perses walked down with Kelli on his arm. "I must say I'm impressed Ravager." Perses unhooked himself from Kelli's arm and lowered his hands for Percy to grab. Percy grabbed the titan's hand and pulled himself up, leaning on Bob as he stood up successfully on the first try.

"Thanks." Percy didn't know what else to say. A compliment from the Titan of Destruction could be a good thing... or a really really bad thing. He guessed it depended on how he looked at it. Or how the titan himself looked at it.

"You lasted twelve minutes with Iapetus." The statement caught Percy off guard. He could have sworn that it was longer. But then again, time escapes him when he's fighting. "As a reward, you and Iapetus can catch up in your room."

"Thanks, Perses," Percy said.

"And from now on, you will fight with titans instead of monsters." Percy almost physically deflated after that. More titans? Ugh, he was already bruised from one twelve minute fight with Bob. Who else would Perses get to fight Percy?

Percy stuffed that to the back of his mind. Right then, Percy only wanted to lay down and go tell Bob how he got there, without mentioning the Frikádes of course. Erebus and Tartarus made it clear that no one could know about them, not even if they saw it right in front of them.

Percy went to stand but almost tumbled to the ground, his bruises finally catching up with him. Bob gripped him tighter to keep him from falling and Percy nearly collapsed into unconsciousness.

"I have you Percy." Percy didn't bother protesting.

Kelli was in her human form, her black skin glistening under sweat caused from the heat of the Arena. Her curly hair was just as he remembered it. His brain was muddled, like a swamp. He watched unable to do anything as she came closer to him and started to speak to Bob.

"I'll take you to his room," she said. "Follow me." Percy wanted to argue that he could have led them to his room perfectly fine but the words caught in his throat as he watched her strut away, her hips swaying in a very provocative manner.

Now, Percy was in no way attracted to monsters. But Kelli was in her human form. A human form that was very much beautiful. As Percy lost all semblance of staying awake, his last image was of a human Kelli with her back to him while she glanced over her shoulder to give Percy a smirk. She was fully aware he was watching.

It was Nyx who woke him up. Which was a surprise since none of them have visited him since they dropped him off on Perses doorstep. Nyx was wearing a small black dress that didn't cover her shoulders and ended mid thigh. Percy would have been lying if he said he didn't find her attractive in that moment.

"What's going on?" He mumbled. Didn't she know he was beaten and bruised from his fight with Bob?

"Get up and get dressed," Nyx ordered. Percy shook his head groggily and tried to sit up without grimacing in pain. He was still in his fighting jeans which were now in tatters. He didn't often fight with a shirt. It was too hot to. Especially in the Arena of Tartarus.

"Where are we going?" Percy asked groggily. Percy walked over to a dresser and picked up a blue sweatshirt hoodie, putting it on.

"Your funeral."

Line Break 2

Percy watched as they lit his pyre on fire. It was kind of sad, with how many people were crying and the devastated looks on his friends' faces. Percy couldn't help but notice Thalia, glaring her way through the funeral at his pyre and any of the gods who met her gaze.

He would've thought he would have some kind of inkling to any emotion close to regret or guilt, but he felt none. He could almost watch on with indifference at all the crying people and smile. He had a lot of friends. It made him happy.

Though, of course, there was that twinge of sadness. The small feeling that his loyalty wanted to jump right out and say, 'Ha! April fools!' like it was a whole big prank. But he couldn't. Not with the Frikádes out there. When they want to destroy the world. Not as long as Erebus, Nyx, and Tartarus need him.

Speaking of Nyx, she sat quietly behind him. She wasn't looking at the pyre but rather staring at the stars. The dusk sun was being followed by several stars. Her eyes were filled to the brim with sadness and Percy could have sworn he saw tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" He sat next to her, far enough to not be touching her but close enough to be a comforting presence. Despite not seeing her in nine months and not knowing her that well, he still found a pull to comfort her. To make sure she was alright.

"It's sad Percy," Nyx said. "When I'm gone, the night is just going to be what the mortals believe it to be: the absence of day." She paused, looking at him now. "In the old days, night used to mean something; it held power and fear. It wasn't just the opposite of day, it was something more." She shook her head, tears finally running down her cheeks. "Now... Now it's nothing."

"Don't think like that," Percy chastised. "Night isn't nothing. It has to be something to still exist. To be here, people have to believe in you and the power that night holds. Maybe if you got a few followers, you could prolong your life?"

Nyx gave a bitter laugh. "The only way to do that would be to take on a champion. And who would worship the personification of night?"

Percy answered without hesitation. "I would." Nyx turned on him sharply, a furious look on her face. Like he was lying. Percy realized he wasn't. He was being one hundred percent truthful. If he could save her from fading just by worshiping her, he'd do it. He owed it to Erebus and Nyx herself, even if she had tried to kill him. And he was pretty sure Erebus would kill him if he didn't at least try the plan.

"Liar!" She roared at him, yet not loud enough to draw any attention from the occupants of Percy's funeral.

"I'm being serious," Percy insisted. "If I became your champion, would I be able to keep you from fading until you got more followers?" He saw Nyx's eyes widen at the implication and she tried to speak. She wasn't breathing. "Breathe, Nyx, breathe."

She suddenly remembered how to, shaking her head as she did so. "Primordials can't take on champions. They'd spontaneously combust because of power overload."

"I'm a demigod of one of the Big Three," Percy argued. He didn't want to go down without a fight. Nyx had to see that this was one of the only options right now. "I've held the sky. Fought Kronos. I'm one of the most powerful demigods to exist." It was a fact he'd tried hard to ignore over the years, but was still as clear as day. "Maybe I could handle it? With my luck, it probably would."

He could see the doubt in her face, in her eyes. "Please." He put his hand on hers, gripping it gently, pointedly. "Try. If it starts to kill me, we can stop."

"Percy..." She seemed shocked at the very suggestion but that didn't stop new tears from pouring down her cheeks as she leaped on him, hugging him. "Are you sure?" She whispered in his ear. He nodded and she tensed, burying herself into his shoulder and staining his shirt with her tears.

When she pulled back, her eyes were red and fresh tear streaks were prominent on her cheeks. She quickly wiped her tears away with her hands. She gave a frilly laugh. There was this feeling in her chest. It was the start of the Champion Bond. The bond would solidify only when they completed the ceremony but until then, it would remain as it was.

Percy stood up, having enough of his own funeral. But as he put a hand on Nyx's arm to shadow away, he caught Thalia looking at him. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open slightly. He couldn't help the cheeky grin that overcame his face. He simply put a finger to his lips and then pointed that finger at the funeral goers. They couldn't know he was alive. Not until the Frikádes were dead and gone.

He didn't see if she understood him or not as he was suddenly whisked away by Nyx. He reappeared in his room at the Arena with Nyx nowhere to be seen. She must've gone to discuss what Percy had said with Erebus. He really hoped that Erebus would take his offer seriously.

Tired, Percy collapsed into his fur bed. He was going to sleep. Sleep was good. He'd talk to Bob later. Maybe in the morning. Percy's eyes closed and his breathing evened. No dreams followed him into the realm of Morpheus but that didn't get rid of the feelings of something bad happening.

Line Break 3

Nyx immediately shadow traveled to the House of Night after she dropped of Percy. Even though her insides were raging war, her face was the image of indifference. She appeared in the throne room and stormed to a side room, a room Erebus and Tartarus had frequented since giving Percy to Perses.

As predicted, there they were. Inside the room was a giant floating piece of jagged glass. Like Hestia's hearth, the piece of glass showed people they wanted to watch. Now though, it was replaying something; the fight between Percy and Iapetus.

It was at the point Percy got kicked into the wall. Nyx stopped and stared as he came out, turning one sword into two, and grinning as he looked up to the Empousa's shocked face. Then he sprinted towards Iapetus.

"Erebus!" Nyx yelled, scaring him enough to jump. Both him and Tartarus turned around. "Did you put him up to it? Did you?"

Erebus held up his hands and Tartarus raised an eyebrow. "Do what?" The Primordial of the Pit asked.

"Percy just offered to be my champion," Nyx answered.

The silence that followed made Nyx bite her lip and close her eyes.

"You didn't put him up to it," she sighed. Sure, she had accepted his offer but that didn't mean she wasn't suspicious about why he offered it. She thought that Erebus or Tartarus would have put him up to it.

"He what?" Erebus asked.

"He offered to be my champion so I'd live longer," Nyx said.

"What did you say?" Tartarus asked. He was intrigued. Perseus Jackson the Ravager, Bane of Kronos, Gaia, and Monsters, Savior of Olympus, Hero of Olympus, retriever of the Master Bolt, Golden Fleece, bearer of the Titan's Curse, Praetor of Camp Jupiter, Leader of Camp Half-Blood, Survivor of the Labyrinth, freer of Death, and the Primordial Champion of Night? It was a mouthful of titles. Not even Hercules had that many. Or titles that border lined 'Oh my fucking God. He did all that?'. The degree was immeasurable.

"I said all the usual," Nyx told him. "I told him how he could die but he wouldn't have it. He told me how he fought Kronos, held the sky, and was a child of the Big Three. He said he would probably survive and that if he was going to die, then we could stop going through with it."

"Did you tell him what it means for him?" Erebus asked. "Did you tell him the consequences of being a Primordial Champion?"

Nyx went pale. She had forgotten about the consequences. He would no doubt decline now. She felt her heart break as she thought about him taking the offer back. Of no longer wanting to be her champion.

"No." She whispered the word. "I... I forgot to tell him. He won't want to be a champion."

"It's okay," Tartarus said. "We can figure out if Perseus will accept later. Now, with how weak he is, he wouldn't survive the process."

"You called the Savior of Olympus weak," Erebus pointed out.

"Yes, I did." Tartarus turned his attention back to the jagged piece of glass. "Perseus is an amazing fighter, with or without his powers. But he's holding back and that makes him weak."

"How so?" Nyx asked. True, she hadn't seen Percy fight against a lot of people and she hadn't seen the fight against Sammael, but Percy Jackson was by no means 'weak.'

"Did you see him fight the first time he fell into Tartarus?" The Primordial of the Pit asked. The two others shook their heads. "The first time he fell into Tartarus, he was a demon. He killed Arachne with a simple swipe of his sword, he jumped across the darkness that is behind this house, and he could control the poison of Ahklys. He even tortured her with her own tears and poison. He managed to control his blood long enough to defeat Sammael."

"What are you saying?" Erebus asked.

"I'm saying is that he needs to use his powers to their full potential." Tartarus stood up and started pacing. "Perseus is by far one of the most powerful demigods in existence. But only when he lets go."

"Lets go... No!" Nyx cried. "You are not going to hone this Pit on his godly side! Do you understand what is going to happen to him!"

"When he first came into my realm," Tartarus started, "the Pit attacked him. It attacked both his mortal and immortal side. Listen!" Nyx closed her mouth and glared. "You forget that the Pit has healing properties. Even when attacking, it heals. It awakens deep powers to help speed the recovery and when you leave, you're more powerful than when you came in. Perseus isn't an exception."

"You mean that while the Pit attacked him, it allowed his godly side to come back stronger," Erebus summarized.

"Yes." Tartarus turned his attention to both of them now. "If you want Perseus to survive becoming a Primordial Champion, then you have to let the pit help his godly side. It doesn't have to attack him. It can be as if he was a monster himself; not only will it help his godly powers grow, but it will also get rid of his inhibitions to not use his powers or his skills to his full extent."

"Won't that make him evil?" Nyx asked. "We don't need to keep looking over our shoulder, worried that we created a powerful monster."

"Of course not," Tartarus answered. "When Perseus tortured Ahklys, it was because he was angry, hurt, scared, and she had just tried to kill him. He was allowed to stop but he didn't want to. He wanted to hurt the one who almost killed him."

"What happens to his mortal side?" Nyx questioned. "If the Pit helps his immortal side, what happens to the mortal one?"

"Essentially, nothing." Tartarus shrugged. "I gave him the blessing to breathe in the Pit and that was all he needed. The air isn't acid to him, he can eat the food here as I'm sure he found out, and the Pit isn't attacking him now that he has my permission to be here."

"If we do this, he can't leave the Pit like a monster," Nyx realized. "He'd be like us, the titans, and the gods. How will he get out? It took us two weeks to get out."

"That's solved with his mortal side and my blessing," Tartarus told them. "Because he has my blessing and is a demigod, he can leave easier than anyone here- including the monsters. Even if he becomes a Primordial Champion, he could get out. As long as he has mortal blood in him, he'll be able to leave easier than us or any other immortal and archetype."

"Say if we did do this?" Erebus asked. "Wouldn't it be frowned upon to do things to Percy without his knowledge?"

Tartarus fixed him with a hard stare and said in a low voice: "It wouldn't be the first time we did something to Perseus without his knowledge."

They stared at each other for a long time before Erebus conceited. "Very well," he sighed. "Do it."

Tartarus didn't smile in triumph or anything. He simply closed his eyes and reopened them a few seconds later. "Done," he said. "The Pit will now treat Perseus as a monster. It will help his immortal side and leave his mortal side alone."

Erebus sighed. He hoped he did the right thing. Perseus had told them that he would help them. The Primordial of Darkness and Shadows could only hope that he didn't freak out when he realized that the Pit was helping him. And that he didn't blame the three siblings for helping.

Line Break 4

Percy's Bedroom; A Week Later

Percy would have kept sleeping of it hadn't been for the body that decided to straddle his waist. Even half asleep, Percy could tell that it wasn't someone he was used to. It wasn't an enemy trying to kill him and it wasn't some girl trying to make Annabeth jealous. The body gave a vibe that distinctly said it belonged there.

And then he fully woke up and he berated himself. He was at the Arena; not at camp. Annabeth would rather be with a dead man, everyone thought he was dead except monsters, and he literally saw his funeral last week.

Though that still didn't explain why there was a body (girl by the feel of it) straddling his hips. Curious, he opened his eyes to a confusing sight.

"Kelli... What are you doing?"

Kelli the Empousa was straddling and leaning over him, making her hair fall and frame her face. Her hands were on either side of his head, giving her enough leverage to hold herself up. If Percy couldn't lie, he would've admitted that she was hot.

Over the last week, he had gotten close to the Empousa. He, Bob, and Kelli could be seen hanging out any time Percy had free time or had gotten off of training. It was awkward at first, being around Kelli. It didn't help that she was instructed to be there. Perses had found it in his evil mind that Percy needed a training supervisor while he worked with Bob on his fighting.

Like Kelli, he really couldn't blame her for everything she'd done. He understood that being in Tartarus sucked and being killed and sent back here time and time again gets a little frustrating. He'd probably do whatever he could to get that stress off too, even if it included killing demigods.

Except sleeping with Luke. That was one thing he'd really didn't want to see or hear about but ended up knowing about it anyways. That tidbit of information wasn't really important but was handy to devastate Annabeth with. He smiled at the thought.

"Happy to see me?" Kelli asked. Percy shrugged with what little room he had.

"Eh." Percy let a devious smile paint his lips. "Just thinking about how Chase would react if she found out that Luke preferred an Empousa over her."

Kelli smiled a dazzling smile and teasingly rubbed her hips against his own, trying to get a rise out of him. It worked.

"I don't know," she said. "I think you're pretty happy to see me."

Immediately, the smile slipped off his face and he stared at her hard. "Kelli, what are you doing?"

Noticing his look, she stopped moving her hips. Her face turned into a scowl. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to fuck you."

"Why?" He didn't even want to comment on how blunt that was.

"Because we've both been eyeing each other all week," she answered. Percy felt his face heat up as he realized he'd been caught. "We both know that we want to fuck each other, so why haven't we?"

"Because admiring and fucking are two very different things," he argued. He sat up, causing her to fall over and end up sitting on his lap. To gain her balance, she clasped her hands on the back of his neck. "Besides I'm not looking for a relationship and I only like you as a friend. I don't want-"

"-A monster," she interrupted. But to her surprise, Percy started laughing.

"I couldn't give a damn if you're a monster or not." Percy really didn't. Not anymore. He fixed her with a hard stare and she swore that his eyes were swirling. "I was about to say: someone who would prefer Luke."

"Luke?!" Her face was appalled which he appreciated. She was about to say something when he interrupted her. "Let me finish?" He asked. She nodded and went quiet.

"The truth is that I have no idea if I'm good or not." It was a little weird to talk about it with a very sexy girl on his lap but it was now one of his fears. And he had to explain before she went ballistic. "Annabeth thought about him when we were together together. I was just the rebound. I just... I don't know for sure if it was anything I did that made her get off or if it was just the thought of Luke doing those things to her that made her-"

He was stopped from talking by Kelli's lips crashing into his. He was momentarily put off but quickly got into it. His hands moved to the point where her hips and the sides of her stomach and he left then there. A tongue ran across his lip and he opened, engaging in a furious domination battle with the Empousa. Though, because she had way more experienced, she won.

When they pulled away, both of their lips were slightly puffy and swollen. Her eyes were glassy. She was clearly as affected as Percy was. He was trying to wrap his brain around what happened when she spoke.

"Chase can go fuck herself." Kelli took a deep breath. "Luke wasn't great. He was barely good. I found myself getting him off more than I did. I only kept doing it because Kronos wanted me close to him." Somehow, in the arms of Percy Jackson, the shiver didn't come.

"I know you don't want a relationship. But I can't help but find you really attractive. And so deliciously fuckable." Percy couldn't help but blush and then chuckle at her bluntness. "It can be like friends enjoying each others company." When Kelli didn't hear her answer, she looked to him only to have his lips catch hers.

When they broke apart Percy said, "I have no idea why, but that sorta makes sense. As long as we both know this is friends with benefits."

"Sounds perfect," Kelli drawled as she once again kissed him, using her weight to push him back onto the bed.


	5. Four

The Big House, Camp Half-Blood

Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunt

She opened the door to the Artemis Cabin quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone in the camp or wake any of her fellow huntresses. It had been a month after the funeral and she could still see Percy every time she closed her eyes. Thalia would close her eyes, blink, and he would be there. She would see his jet black hair that was messier than ever. She would see his green eyes that had specks of white, purple, red, and black, glowing with power.

And she would always see him telling her to keep him a secret.

Well, he didn't tell her anything. But what else could he have meant? He shushed her and then pointed to the campers and everyone at the funeral. She didn't understand but she did what he asked. Mostly.

There were two people who she couldn't not tell: Nico and Chiron. They were the first people she confided in. When Percy disappeared with that woman in a form that looked a lot like shadow travel, she immediately went to Nico.

When he heard what Thalia was saying, he immediately dragged her to Chiron. He shushed her every time she tried to talk to him and would sometimes whisper 'Not here,' like it was a crime and they couldn't talk in public.

They went to the Big House where Nico told Chiron what Thalia had told him. Chiron nodded and asked Nico to leave while he told Thalia what to do with this new information. The first thing he did was tell her about Annabeth's wrongs and why Percy went away in the first place.

Even now, a month later, she still burned with rage at the thought of Annabeth betraying Percy like that. She had half a mind to go to the Athena Cabin and raze it to the ground. Unfortunately, Chiron made sense in saying that Annabeth's punishment was her thinking she was the reason for Percy's death.

Thalia reached the Big House without a problem and without being sighted. Sneaking was necessary for now. They couldn't IM each other as it was cost effective and Iris or Fleecy might be spying on their messages. So they had to meet physically. It wasn't hard to convince Artemis to stay longer than was planned. All Thalia had to say was 'I want to make sure that the place that Zoe's only male friend sacrificed for is going to be okay without him.'

It sort of made Thalia angry that Artemis still played favorites between her current lieutenant and a dead one. But for the sake of finding Percy... she'd have to push her pride down and she was willing.

Nico was standing while talking to Chiron in the Ping Pong Room. Or Conference Room, if you want to make it more than it actually is. The wheelchaired centaur turned his attention to the lieutenant and held his hand up to silence Nico. The Ghost King followed orders. Anything having to do with Percy was enough to get the son of Hades to follow orders. He'd told Thalia himself that Percy was more important than his stupid pride.

"Thalia." Nico greeted her with a nod as Chiron offered her a warm smile. Thalia just scowled. She wasn't there for pleasantries or a fucking book club. She was there to find Percy, nothing more, nothing less.

"What are you talking about?" Thalia asked. She drew herself a chair and sat on it backwards, the back of the chair against her chest.

Nico was wearing his usual black jacket, black shirt, black jeans, silver skull ring, and his stygian iron sword at his side. His brown hair was messy but not as messy as Percy's had been. His skin was waxy but had a healthy amount of sun in it. Thalia suspected that a synonym for 'clarity' had something to do with it.

"Nico was sharing one of his theories about Percy's location," Chiron answered. He gestured to Nico and the son of Hades took a deep breath.

"I think Percy is in Tartarus."

The simple sentence had taken several moments to sink in. When it did, Thalia couldn't help but look at Nico as if he was crazy. Why would Percy be in Tartarus? How would he even get into Tartarus? It's not like he went to California or Italy. He was in Alaska after all.

"You're an idiot."

"Hear him out, Thalia," Chiron told her before she could make any other comments. She could tell that they had already had this discussion before and were waiting on her verdict. They had told each other that they weren't going to make any move- no matter how small- without the others' permission and the green light was given.

"We've tried asking everyone. The camps, the Amazons, the gods, the retired demigods. But have we tried asking the monsters?" Thalia nearly interrupted but Nico rushed on. "Think about it Thalia. If Percy didn't want to be found, he'd literally go where no one would look for him. He's done drastic things like that before. And we both know he can do the impossible."

He was right of course. Percy had managed to fight anything that had ever come his way. He lead a war against Kronos and Gaia, survived Tartarus, held the sky... Thalia sometimes thought that there was nothing Percy couldn't and wouldn't do.

His unpredictability did that to him. Yet Thalia couldn't figure out what his next move would be. Go to Tartarus and what? From what she heard from Annabitch, the Primordial of the Pit had wanted Percy dead. So did Nyx, the Primordial of Night. What could he be doing down there?

"Say you're right," Thalia conceded. "Why would he go down there? Everything down there wants to kill him."

Oh, how Thalia couldn't have been more wrong.

"I have no idea," Nico admitted. "But if Percy's flaw was personal loyalty, what would happen if someone broke it?"

Thalia looked to Chiron, having no idea what Nico was trying to say. Luckily, the centaur noticed this and went into teacher mode.

"If you broke Percy's loyalty," Chiron said and ignored the way the daughter of Zeus bristled at the analogy, "do you think he would forgive you if you asked or would he hold a grudge?"

"I'm... not sure," Thalia admitted. "I suppose it would have to depend on what that person did and how close to Percy they were." She said it purposefully, making Chiron know that she did not at all appreciate the analogy of where she betrayed Percy. She wouldn't, not after everything they had done for each other.

"Annabeth had the brunt of Percy's flaw," Nico iterated. "She broke the loyalty and trust he gave her. What if he can't forgive. Like Hades, Percy's grudges are timeless after his flaw is broken."

"He forgave Luke," she argued back but the thought was immediately shut down.

"Luke never stopped being his friend," Nico told her. "Yes, Luke tried to kill him multiple times, but so did we." Thalia had no way to argue that point. "Percy could understand. He could reason and try and put a stop to the reason Luke betrayed him. Even when being the victim, he always thought that the people who hurt him were the ones getting hurt.

"Annabeth..." Nico trailed off. "I don't think Percy could handle it. He couldn't understand why she did what she did. He couldn't reason with himself, saying that he was being a dick or anything like that. The only thing that that he could see and understand, was that she betrayed him and used him."

Both the cousins' hands were balled into fists so tight that the skin turned white. They both wanted to run the blond through with their weapons. They hadn't tried to talk to Annabeth. Or see her. Chiron quickly tried to diffuse the tension that formed in the very air.

"Despite the reasons," Chiron said, "we believe Percy is in Tartarus, letting off steam, of sorts." Thalia only looked to him. "It is certainly a possibility."

Thalia nodded, finding it hard to argue with the centaur. Of the few times Thalia had been at camp, she saw Percy would often let out his anger in the camp's arena or take it out on the monsters in the woods, sometimes staying in there for days and coming out with dust and ruined clothes. There were a few occasions he would goad the Ghost King and the Hunter into fighting him, yet they managed to patch up anything the other said easily.

"What do we do about it?" The girl asked.

"Nothing, for now." Nico ran a hand through his hair, a trait he no doubt had picked up from Percy. "Keep an ear out for any information a monster could slip out? At this point, I just want him back."

Thalia nodded her agreement. "I'm wondering who the chick was," she complained. She felt something in her bones, so powerful it almost made her laugh. Maybe her funny bone was acting up? Where was that anyway?

"Yes that does bode a very important detail," Chiron agreed. "You said she shadow travelled? What did she look like?"

"I couldn't see very well, but I could make out that she had white skin with a lot of freckles, black hair, and was nearly a head and shoulders shorter than Percy."

"I'm not sure there is any god that looks like that," Chiron said. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was in deep thought.

"Never mind that for now," Nico snapped. "How do we even know that Percy wants to come back?"

Thalia stared at him like was crazy once again. "What are you talking about?" She demanded. "Of course he wants to come back! He needs to after ditching us like that! When we find Percy Jackson, I swear I'm going to rip him a new one myself! I don't care that he's still alive or that he doesn't want to be found!"

"Percy's... alive?"

The trio looked to find Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite and one of the Seven, in the doorway of the War Room. Her hair was put into a loose braid, her kaleidoscope eyes showing a different range of emotions, and simply wearing her Camp Half-Blood T-shirt with jean shorts.

They all reared back in shock. None of them, even Chiron with his radar ears, had heard her come in. To top it off, she had heard at least the last bits of conversation that Thalia had made.

Her eyes shown happiness at the news, confusion at why they weren't telling them, and sadness because he left them long enough to be presumed dead and that the three in the War Room didn't trust anyone with this information.

"Piper!" Thalia exclaimed needlessly. "How much did you hear?"

"What do you mean 'Percy's alive'?" She demanded. Immediately Thalia felt like she had to explain. It was an overwhelming urge that she couldn't stop or something bad would happen.

"He's alive, exactly what I said." Thalia had no idea why she was speaking but she could feel a pressure in her mind, forcing out the secret she had held for a month. "I saw him during the funeral. He was with a girl and he made a gesture for me to keep him a secret from everyone else at the funeral. I only told Nico and Chiron because they didn't believe he was dead either."

Thalia was fighting it with all she had. But there was never a contest. Piper really was, by all counts, the most powerful charmspeaker ever. Thalia watched as Piper took the information all in.

Finally, she spoke. "Why? Why did Percy leave?"

Nico was the one to answer this time. "He left because he found out that Annabeth used him as a rebound. She moaned Luke's name while being with Percy. She broke his loyalty and that's why he left to go to Alaska."

Piper suddenly got a shifty look in her eye. "You three will stay here while I go to tell the camp." She then turned and ran as fast as she could.

Thalia struggled with the mental bonds the Cherokee had placed on her but the bonds suddenly snapped as Chiron hit her with a cane that appeared out of nowhere. He then did the same to Nico and both were snapped out of Piper's charmspeak.

"You shadow travel ahead of her," Thalia told him as she raced out of the room and the Big House. She stopped to look and saw that she was running straight to the Zeus cabin, no doubt to tell Jason about Percy's 'resurrection'.

Thalia sprinted after her, though her head was still foggy from the younger/older girl's charmspeak. Thalia's age was just a confusing topic and she refused to go there, even with her ADHD.

The daughter of Aphrodite reached the doors of the cabin just as Nico emerged from a random shadow and caught her in his arms. They fell to the ground, Thalia reaching them just in time to save Piper from a nasty fall.

"Let go!" Piper nearly yelled. The charmspeak was palpable but Nico and Thalia managed to ignore it. Suddenly, there was a crash and yelp as something- or someone- hit the floor on the inside. Only it was a girl's voice.

The three struggling teens stopped as Piper did. Thalia could hear her heart freeze with dread. True, she wasn't like any of the other hunters. She was practically the diplomat, not killing boys or turning them into jackalopes before hearing them out and what they wanted. But she also knew not to trust them, having her heart broken by Luke was enough. And as such, she knew that having a girl in a cabin with only a boy was not a good sign and usually pointed in the direction of stereotypes.

Boy has girl in his room. Boy's girlfriend comes in to find a scene that she really wished she hadn't walked in on. Thalia felt her heart freeze to below zero when she remembered that it was her brother's cabin that the contraband girl was in.

Thalia let Piper slip through her fingers as the three went to the door of the cabin. The large white door swung open without a creak. Thalia figured that Jason was keeping it up to date simply because he was a Roman and was probably OCD.

In truth, she hadn't talked to him all that much, despite her just getting him back. There was this distance between them. With Percy and Nico, it wasn't there though there was often a little space between her and Nico at times like in the Big House. But Percy had been by her side for as long as she needed and even gave her a mother. It sometimes seemed sad that she had a better relationship with Percy than her own brother, especially after all this time since the Second Giant War had ended.

Thalia braced Piper as she suddenly took a few steps back away from the door, tears running down her cheeks yet her voice refusing to make a sound. Thalia peeked into the room and wanted to throw up as anger bubbled into her.

She wasn't sure whether to blow up the cabin in a smooth blast of lightening or slowly carve up her brother and his harlot. The cliche in front of her had no idea that she was watching or that Nico had entered the room and now stood behind them.

Jason and Annabeth were too into each other on his bunk to notice anybody else.

Their shirts were off and their tongues were down their throats. Their hair was messed up, their eyes were closed. They looked kind of good together. Then again, heart breakers always have the best look when together.

Nico wasn't up for watching as he suddenly yelled out a "HEY!"

Piper turned away as the two caught in the act suddenly scrambled onto the bed, Annabeth covering her chest with the blanket of the bunk. Thalia accepted Piper whole-heartedly. The heart broken demigod nuzzled her sniffling nose into Thalia's parka, while the huntress wrapped her arms around the girl in front of her.

"Thalia, could you take Piper out for a moment?" Nico asked, his voice eerily calm and no doubt filled with rage once the daughter of Aphrodite was gone. "I need to have words with these two."

'Yeah, those two are screwed,' Thalia couldn't help but think. She had learned that Nico spoke like Zoe did when he was severely pissed off. It was a remnant of his time with Minos, the ghost that tried to use him when he was away from camp for the first time. It usually meant something Hades-like was going to happen and the Fields of Punishment wouldn't be the only thing the son of Hades made scream.

Thalia pulled away and led Piper away and over to Cabin Eight. They were barely in the door when the screaming match started. Nico's voice was more noticeable than the others; at least until he called Annabeth a dumb, back-stabbing harlot.

The other hunters woke up after that and Thalia told them to sit back down. "Unlike most, this girl deserves it," she told the group. "She drove Percy Jackson away and then slept with her best friend's boyfriend. Annabeth Chase does not get any sympathy from the Hunters."

There was murmur as soon as she said Percy Jackson. Some hunters were new but they knew of Percy Jackson well enough to know that it was a huge deal. What got them though was Piper who was still in tears. They drew her a hot bath and new clothes, which weren't hunter clothes. They saw she was a daughter of Aphrodite, so they didn't expect her to stay with them for long.

When the hunters went back to sleep and Piper was dressed properly in pajamas, only she and Thalia were left sitting on the floor and laying against the edge of the bunk.

"Is this what Percy felt?" Piper quietly questioned as she looked at the floor. Thalia took a breath, thinking about how to answer.

After a moment, she too spoke. "I think it's close."

There were a few minutes of silence before one spoke again. "I want to find him," Piper told the cousin. "I know it's stupid, but I looked up to him during the war. He was this... rock, in the middle of the bullshit that was happening around us."

"You and me both," Thalia said as she looked to the ceiling, closing her eyes.

"I'm going to go looking," Piper announced. "Percy was always there for me and I need to be there for him."

"I'm not going to stop you," Thalia warned as she turned to the girl, "but you might want to have a plan first. You are Tristen McLean's daughter and, more importantly, Aphrodite's daughter too. You'd be hunted by monsters."

"I'd be fine," Piper retaliated. "Besides, I could look by using my dad's jet and going to the places you guys haven't looked." It made sense, at least to Thalia.

"You do whatever you won't. I'll even help you." Piper looked at Thalia questioningly. "I think you're using Percy as a way to leave," Thalia admitted. "But either way, you're looking for Percy. That's all that matters."

"Percy was- is- one of the best people I know," Piper confided. "When I first saw him, on the Argo II, I didn't think he was much. Compared to J- him... He just didn't look like he could do anything special."

"That's Percy's specialty." Thalia had often thought about it. Especially when everyone thought he was dead. "It isn't making immortals mad at him, though it does seem like that sometimes. It isn't his powers or his abilities with a sword. It's that you can take one look at him, and see whatever he wants you to see."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"When he was with her," Thalia said, "he was super manipulative. He did one thing so she couldn't catch the other. He made her look too closely to see anything at all. He would do something stupid on purpose so she wouldn't notice that her laptop was missing or that he'd stolen her phone for an hour to call his mom."

"He sounds more like a Hermes kid than Poseidon's," Piper commented.

"He practically was," Thalia agreed. They went quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the memories and comfort that came with it.

"I'm going to look," Piper assured. "I'll find him."

"If you do, give him a good beating for me."

The Arena, Tartarus

Percy Jackson, The Ravager

Dead Men Tell No Tales. The saying was something Percy took to heart. He couldn't talk to the dead like Nico, so he was left with bodies that couldn't speak and dead friends that he couldn't apologize to. No matter how many times Nico told him that they didn't blame him for their deaths.

Yet the saying went out the window the moment he was told what becoming a Primordial Champion entailed.

A full year went by in a flash. Six months of training in hand to hand combat and his swords along with numerous weapons, fucking Kelli, and learning that monsters weren't what he thought they were. The other six months were him tuning his powers so fine that a simple finger raise would allow him to control his element and visiting his mother occasionally to let her know he wasn't going to die anytime soon. Oh, how he shouldn't have said that.

Percy had changed drastically in that amount of time. His hair was more unkempt and a mess, his tan became paler because of the lack of human sun, and his muscles were more lean than ever. Fighting numerous titans left him more scarred than ever, one scar stretched from the middle of his cheek down his chin and neck until it finally reached his collarbone; gifted to him from Krios- ram horn helmet dude, the Titan of the South and Stars-, it was a very physical reminder that Percy's enemy would do anything to win. To never become Hercules and to never stop being himself.

Krios didn't win the second match.

Though Percy could smile in satisfaction at the look of outrage that appeared on the titan's face whenever he and Percy crossed paths, the demigod couldn't help but think that the titan got off easy. Especially when his mother found out. She scared Percy enough to get Tartarus to talk to his mother and calm down. For an Arm Pit, he had a calming aura about him.

It was the day before he was told what being a Primordial Champion entailed. It was the day of his last day of training. Two years of training left Percy hardened but somehow still with a sense of humor. He knew when to fight and when to play. And now, it was play.

He opened the door to find Kelli standing there, wearing a smirk, jean shorts, and a shirt that cut off at the belly. Percy had long ago realized that she wasn't named 'the Jezebel' for no reason. When in a fight, she annihilated most monsters. Her sexy physique completely baffled her opponents and then she went straight for the kill by digging her fangs into the neck and ripping out the jugular.

"Congratulations Perseus," she said as he stepped aside to let her pass. She traversed the room with a sway of her hips and looked out the window.

Percy was given a room on a higher floor nearly two months ago. It had a nice view of the Arena, so Percy could watch the matches they had when he wasn't training or hanging out with Bob and Kelli.

"Don't call me Perseus," he told her. He came up behind her and gripped the back of her neck. "It makes me think you want to kill me, as most immortals that call me that want me dead."

"And how do you know I don't want you dead?" Kelli retorted as she relished being man-handled by The Ravager. The cold stones and glass pressed against her front while she could feel Percy's heat at her back.

"'Cause you literally had two years to kill me." Percy pressed himself against her and he heard her gasp and sigh in pleasure.

He had long ago learn that Kelli liked it rough. Almost to the point she would be considered a masochist. Percy had taken it upon himself to let go and be rougher than what he was used to. Chase had always liked it slow and sensual. He was serving her more than she was him. But with Kelli, it wasn't about the person, it was about the sex. The reactions following the actions one made. And it helped Percy realize there was more to sex than simply pleasuring each other or becoming whole.

It was an action. It wasn't the act itself that was intimate or loving; it was the way people did it. What he did with Kelli... it wasn't love making. It was sex, with a few slow parts to help build the pleasure. And he was fine with that. He wasn't in love with Kelli. He likes her as a friend and was willing to get off on her. He didn't think there was any way he could start to love her. There was just too much bad history there.

He liked the saying John F. Kennedy had. "Forgive your enemies, but always remember their names."

He didn't know if he was going to break it off with Kelli. If he ever did, it would be because he was falling in love with another girl. He doubted that would happen but he would never know the future. He wasn't Apollo. Though that would be a bad ass power to have.

"I would have," Kelli told him. "But the sex is too good to pass up. Isn't that right, Perseus?"

He growled in her ear, making her shiver in anticipation. This was one of their more slower sex sessions. They were celebrating after all. That deserved some foreplay.

Over the last year, Percy came to know Kelli in a more intimate way. She didn't need that much foreplay. It was only times like these, when they celebrated about something that the other had accomplished, that they really got into it. That they let each other delve deeper than what they were used to.

Like the time they 'celebrated' Percy having won against Krios the second time. Or the time Kelli defeated the Minotaur. Or like now, as Perses had decided that Percy has finished his training.

"I'd be careful if I were you," Percy murmured in her ear. "It wouldn't be hard to break you."

Percy bit the rim of her ear as he pressed Kelli into the wall harder, making her hiss in more pleasure than pain. He knew she loved this. It was why he did it. No, he wasn't entirely comfortable acting like Hercules or Orion. Like he was better than her just because she was a monster. But she loved a little pain, so he did it to make her happy. And if she's happy during sex, he's definitely going to be.

"Is that all?" She challenged.

It wasn't the first time they had done something like this. To be honest, it happened more than anyone would care to admit. Especially since Kelli was a screamer. She would yell out obscenities at the top of her lungs, asking, begging, pleading, for Percy to fuck her faster and harder.

Monsters didn't mention it. They wouldn't dare to after what happened to the Minotaur. It was the reason Kelli fought him in the first place. Yes, apparently he could talk. It came as a huge shock to Percy, but then again, he probably should have paid more attention to the monster that 'killed' his mother.

Percy quickly took her off the wall and spun her around to face him. He then grabbed her by the throat and slammed her back into the wall, lifting her half a foot off the ground first. Her legs immediately wrapped around his waist and her hands went to the arm holding her up.

His grip was slackened enough for her to get shallow gulps of air but tight enough to not let her use her vocal cords. Her warm center was pressed against him, letting him know she was enjoying this and to not worry if he was hurting her.

"What was that?" Percy asked sarcastically. Kelli only grinned back at him, earning a growl from him. Percy ripped her legs from around him and threw her to the bed with one hand.

Like everything else, the décor in Percy's room changed as well. The bed was king size with white and purple satin sheets that he had to clean every time Kelli came over. Above them was a nice chandelier, glittering with glass and lights. There were a couple dressers, a mirror, a closet, and a stereo with a new IPhone 6 plugged into it.

It was a gift given to him by Perses. To, as Perses said, 'thank him for being the best entertainment the Titan had seen in centuries.' The only thing on there was Spotify, which somehow worked in Tartarus with no Wi-Fi and Perses charmed to have the language in Ancient Greek. Or was that a setting?

Kelli laid back on her elbows seductively, one leg over the other to make her curves even more accented. The blue top rode up even more to reveal the bottom makings of her lacy dark blue bra.

Percy couldn't stand there any longer. He was wanting and really hard, and here was a monster/girl that was willing and practically asking to be fucked. Well, she had quite a few times, but this was more non-verbal than those times.

Percy was on the bed in a flash and catched her lips in a kiss. It wasn't passionate like love making. It was hot, heavy, and completely primal. Her fingers trailed the hem if his shirt while his hands found her sides.

His tongue pried her lips open and fought with her own organ. His hands moved on from her sides, going down and gripping her ass. She let out a moan when he squeezed it and it made her open her legs. He nestled close to apply friction and she kept moaning.

His shirt was the first discarded piece of clothing. She broke the kiss to suddenly run her tongue along one of his larger scars. It was in the middle of his chest, running through the valley of his ribs as though he had been dissected. The situation was close; Percy had been put in a body lock by Koios and Percy grabbed a nearby spear and ran it through his own chest to get the Titan behind him. It worked and the Titan had to reform but Percy was immediately taken to the House of Night to get ambrosia and nectar.

Percy shuddered. It was a weird feeling but not a bad one. It was just different. He got harder as he looked at Kelli run her tongue along the scar again for emphasis. She never broke eye contact as her tongue left another trail of saliva on his chest.

Another kiss was exchanged as Kelli was removed of her top. Her breasts bounced and jiggled as they were jostled and moved. The lacy blue bra was just barely containing the C-cups, no doubt made for a B-cup.

Percy broke the kiss and nuzzled into her neck, making her fall on her back and off her elbows. He kissed and sucked, making hickeys and making her whine and moan as he left one spot to move onto another. Her hands entered his hair, tugging and pulling as she moaned for more.

Percy was suddenly jerked by his hair and he had no choice but to follow, resulting in Kelli as the one on top. She straddled his hip, running hers up and down his clothed shaft and he let out a moan. Kelli bent down and ran her tongue on his main scar. The one on his face, neck, and collarbone. The one Krios gave him.

He groaned, imagining all pairs of pants as evil torture devices designed to cockblock young teenagers and their monster FWB. Reaching around, his fingers met the clip of her bra and expertly unhooked it with one hand. He had been at this for a while, after all.

Kelli sat up and threw the bra off her chest and simply dropped it to the floor by the side of the bed using a single finger. Again, Percy found himself up and kissing, locking and sucking her skin. Kelli moaned above him, threading her fingers in his hair and goading him to do more.

"Surely," she said, as breathless as they come, "you... you can do more- ooh-... Perseus?"

Percy smirked as she let out a shriek. He bit the side of her breast, rather hard but was still a nip. His hands were brought up, roughly groping at them and pinching the dark and hardened nipples. His tongue ran up and down the valley between her breasts and finally stopped at her collarbone. There, he bit harder than ever, drawing blood and letting it run down her skin, making its own paths.

He could only watch as Kelli took the dirty yellow blood of monsters on her finger and then sucked it dry, moaning theatrically as she did so. Percy growled and attacked her breasts, one nipple going into his mouth and the other being pinched in his hand.

His tongue swirled around the hardened pebble earning himself a moan. He sucked on it, enjoying how her brown skin glittered with sweat he was causing. It was another thing that he preferred. He knew that he was the one getting her off. Not a memory or a fantasy. Him.

The breast popped out of his mouth and he switched breasts, only to be stopped by Kelli. He looked at the questioningly but was answered as her hands slipped from his hair and frantically tried to open the button of her jean shorts.

"No more foreplay," she told him. "Just get it in me."

She didn't bother taking off her panties with the shorts but rather moved them to the side to have easier access. Percy's own jeans and underwear were removed in a heartbeat, revealing a long, hard member of nine and a half inches and a width of one inch and three quarters.

Kelli gasped as Percy thust forward and switched their positions, Percy being the one on top again. She was exceedingly tight and wet, no matter how many times she and Percy have had sex over the last year. Many of Percy's actions were taught to him by the Jezebel herself.

Kelli was being filled like no other man could have. She had often told him that he was the biggest she'd ever taken in the thousands of years she'd lived. It filled him with pride but he doubted he was the biggest. And even if he was, he wouldn't flaunt it so he asked Kelli to keep that between them.

Percy continued thrusting, feeling the warm and wet insides of her vagina try to milk him for all he's worth. The Empousa's fingers left trails of red and broke skin as they dragged across his back. She was screaming.

"FUCK! Yes Percy- uh! yes yes yes yes yes YES!" She was a mess. Her hands came up to her own hair as Percy dragged his teeth against her flesh, tasting the remnants of her blood. It was sweet, like Smarties.

"I'm so fucking close Percy!" She screamed. "Oh gods I'm going to come!"

"Me... too," Percy gritted out. It was hard to hold in. His body burned with a fire that had finally become all too familiar.

"That's it Percy! Right there! Come in me!" She fell over the edge at the same time Percy did. He flooded her as she squeezed her tight pussy when she came. She screamed out his name as she collapsed onto the pillow behind her.

Percy pulled out and collapsed next to her. Even though he had trained his stamina in the Arena and in the bedroom, he closed his eyes and relaxed into the mattress and soft sheets. Kelli moaned and he opened an eye to look over.

Kelli was taking a finger and dragging it along her nether lips, then bringing it back up to her lips and in her mouth, tasting a large amount of seed that came with it. He didn't get it. Her cum, he could lap up with vigor. Not because it was tasty but because it brought a sort of pride to his chest. She, on the other hand, had admitted that his cum was delicious.

She looked at him and her finger came out of her mouth with a pop. "Mmmm," she moaned. "Tasty." She turned over, half way laying on him and she hummed in content, closing her eyes as she did so. "Congrats, Percy." She was asleep in no time. Percy, however, was too wired to sleep.

He grabbed the purple sheet and covered him and his... Friend? Partner? Definitely not lover. But he laid in his bed, the head of the girl he was sleeping with on his chest, and the satisfaction of graduating Perses' School of Destruction still on his mind.

For a time he laid there, not thinking and just staring at the ceiling. Unfortunately, his ADHD got the better of him, not matter how many times his mind played Claire de Lune by memory and he got up and dressed.

He wore boxers, his fighting jeans that were matted with blood, ripped and torn, and by far the most comfy, Spice in the scabbard on his back, and a blue hoodie. Percy took the time to look at it. It was one from Camp Half-Blood, with the fading black pegasus on the front. He hadn't thought about the camp in a while, due to his training and his mother.

Percy still got reports from Nyx, Erebus, and sometimes Tartarus. His last report was three months ago. Thalia and Nico and Chiron were looking for him, though Piper wasn't with them anymore. He was confused on that front. She should have thought that he was dead but even if she did know he was alive, why would she look for him alone? He didn't know what had changed a month after the funeral, he only knew what Nyx told him in her reports: If it was in danger and who was looking for him.

The Arena's hot air was too familiar to be bothering anymore. It was hard to believe that he was scared of this place a couple of years ago. It all seemed so serene now. Sure, there were still the bad parts. The agonizing screaming, the place he got tortured, the arai. But that felt so distant.

Dummies littered the Arena. Percy didn't bother taking out Spice. He still liked seeing how his powers worked. It was hard to believe that being the son of the Earth Shaker would allow him to control the very earth. It would have been helpful in the fight against Gaia.

Yet that wasn't just the full extent of his earth powers.

Percy twitched his fingers and the sand on the Arena floor floated up to greet him. He could control sand, which made sense given that the beach was on the ocean and the ocean was on the beach. Percy could also move large quantities of earth, like Poseidon's earthquakes. Percy had been up on the surface once or twice and had learned that he had better control over the earth near tectonic plates.

He twitched his fingers again and the sand went shooting at the dummies, ripping them to pieces as millions upon millions little grains of sand went faster than any normal eye could catch.

The sand swirled back to the floor as Percy set it back down. He then looked at another dummy and took a fighting stance. He took a step and a rock the size of a small boulder shot out of the ground and he jumped, giving it a twirling kick as he did so. The boulder vaulted through the air, its aim straight and true as it embedded itself within the ground, the dummy underneath it.

Percy sighed as he felt a strong force insert itself in his arms. It took a lot out of him to control the large portions of earth. Especially in Tartarus. It was like Alaska. He had no help from the gods with his powers. It was all him.

He closed his eyes next. It was necessary so far. Just so he could feel it. The particles in the air. The water that was so scarce in Tartarus joined together to make a liquid form that slipped from the cracks of the very air around him, slipping around him and pooling at his feet. He only opened his eyes when he heard clapping.

Tartarus came out of the shadows, his hands still clapping. "Perses wasn't kidding when he said that you were better than ever," Tartarus said.

"Thanks," Percy replied. "What's going on?"

"We believe it's time," the Primordial said. "It's time for you to become a Primordial Champion... If you accept after you hear what you must do."

"What do I have to do?" Percy asked. He and Nyx got closer over the year. She wouldn't talk about him being a Primordial Champion, simply saying that there would be a time to talk about it after he finished his training. They came to see each other as siblings, Percy being the older brother. Though it did kind of make things awkward when Percy realized she was married and had kids with her actual brother.

"You have to die," Tartarus answered simply.

Line Break 1 (Believe it or not)

"I have to die," Percy clarified for the fifth time. Nyx, Erebus, and Tartarus sat at a table in the throne room, the same table Percy had been at almost two years prior before they shipped him off to Perses' front doorstep.

"Yes," Erebus reaffirmed for the fifth time. As if sensing Percy's confusion, he explained. "Primordial Champions would be too powerful to just wander. That's why, you have to show your trust by giving your soul to Nyx and show your loyalty by surrendering your life to her."

"I get that," Percy told him, waving off the subject of dying. He'd almost died way too many times, anyway. "But what happens to me? After I die, do I magically come back? Do I suddenly show up in the underworld and have to ask you to transport me back here?"

"No," Nyx chuckled. "You become an archetype. Like us, the gods, titans, and monsters. You reform every time you're killed."

"That makes absolutely no sense." Percy sighed. "Why would I have to become an archetype? I get showing my loyalty and surrendering my life; to show I would die for you. That I wouldn't betray you. But why an archetype? Couldn't you just steal me from the underworld?"

"No, we couldn't," Nyx admitted. "For a bond between Primordial and Champion to be completed, the Champion has to live for the Primordial. That's why they give the Primordial their soul, so you can always come back and serve under the Primordial."

Percy nodded. "Would I still age? Would I be able to die and go to Elysium at some point? Maybe centuries later?"

"That happens when the Primordial releases the Champion from service," Erebus explained. "But yes, you could age and die of old age but you would be reborn again to this point. The point you became an archetype is the point your new body reforms every time you die. You could be forty, die, and then come back with your body at this stage, the moment you became an archetype."

Percy took this in. To be honest, it sounded better than being a god. To grow old and not watch his friends grow old without him. He wouldn't be able to see them in the underworld, sure, but he would live a regular mortal life span before he was reformed. It was the best deal he had yet.

"What do I have to do?" Percy asked. He had determination in his eyes. The purple, black, white, and red seemed to become accented the more the green glowed. He hadn't asked about it yet. There was never time. But now, he had all the time of the world.

"Kneel before your Primordial," Tartarus instructed. Percy did, kneeling in front of Nyx. "Give her your sword." Percy almost gripped Spice bit then stopped. His hand drifted down to his pocket, where Riptide had been waiting for the last hour.

Percy took it out and uncapped the magical object. Riptide had saved his life far too many times. It seemed fitting that it would be the blade to usher him into the awaiting arms of Death. At least until Percy came back. That, and he'd neglected the blade for a long time. It was Zoe's and he betrayed her memory by never pulling it out since coming down here. Maybe he could rectify that.

Nyx took the blade after some hesitation but ultimately understood his reasoning.

"Show her the weakest part of your body," Tartarus continued. They were surprised when Percy stood and turned away from them to show them a small part on the small of his back. They expected him to show his heart or something.

"I had the Curse of Achilles during the Second Titan War." Percy looked down at the floor. "After I lost it, my mortal point became the most sensitive part of my body. When someone touches it, it makes my nerves on fire... It's also how Krios got the drop on me. He touched it and I couldn't move, that's when he sliced me."

Nyx looked to her brother and he nodded. It would do.

Percy almost yelped when he felt Riptide's cool metal touch the flesh of his mortal point. He almost screamed when the metal began to rip his skin. The pain was nearly unbareable, as Nyx scratched her runes into Percy's flesh.

Finally, she was done and waited for Tartarus to tell her when to initiate the next step. He nodded and she took a deep breath. She spoke in a clear voice, "Eláte na me ypiretísete!"

Percy felt something in him tear when she yelled 'Come and serve me!' into the air. It felt like his stomach was trying to burn itself with acid while his heart was trying to find out how much of itself could it eat without dying. His mind only yelled in pain.

Riptide channeled Percy's soul through it, allowing the soul to come onto Nyx's hand, molding itself into a ball. She could have crushed it so easily but she didn't. The green ball of green and blue was tinged with purple, white black, and red, the color of Percy's eyes.

The ball writhed in in her hand, recognizing her as a friend. It calmed down and nestled itself in her palm. She reached down into her dress and pulled out a locket. When she opened it, Percy's soul was sucked in and the locket shut with a snap.

"Percy," Nyx warned, "this will hurt. A lot."

Percy felt his soul with her. He could feel it and the change he was experiencing. He could feel his soul feel safe and secure and happy. He steeled himself. He had no doubt it would hurt. Like Hell, he would imagine. But still, he gritted out a "Do it." before Riptide was plunged into his back and up into his heart.


	6. Five

_Percy didn't know how long he'd been there. Days, weeks, years- it didn't matter. His ADHD was acting up as it normally did when he was healing and now, he was BORED. The jingle and clink of his chains softly echoed throughout the dark expanse, making it seem like something out of a horror movie. Percy had to go see the new horror movie he thought he saw on a cinema's message board that one time he was visiting his mom. But he wasn't really a fan of horror movies._

 _He tried watching the old Nightmare on Elm Street movies but ended up falling asleep near the end of the first movie, when the guy exploded from his bed in a shower of blood. Friday the 13th wasn't much better but Percy did like the end of the first movie. When it turned out it was the boy's mother who was killing everyone. That had to be Percy's favorite part._

 _Percy wondered if his mother would do that for him. Probably not, but it was funny to think about. After all, her running down here to kill his torturer seemed like a funny picture in his head. She'd bring a mountain of blue cookies on a golden plate with her and to be honest, he could really use some blue cookies. He was starving. How long has he gone without eating? That brought back the question of how long he'd been in the dark expanse of nothingness._

 _The sudden appearance of his torturer stopped the rest of his thought process. She was beautiful, with long brown hair that was tied into a loose braid, silver-white irises, porcelain skin, and mile long legs. Literally. She stood up at at least fifteen feet and towered over Percy. Her black and silver dress cutting off at her knees with small slits at the calves, teasing soft and creamy skin._

 _Percy probably would have admired her if he wasn't so busy glaring at her._

 _"Don't you like my dress?" She taunted as she sauntered up to her prisoner, licking the rim of his ear. Percy had to resist the urge to bite her fucking tongue off and shove it down her throat. It was probably a good thing she had a collar on him that chained him into the nothingness around him, along with his arms and legs._

 _"I couldn't care less about a sucky dress worn by the knock-off Artemis," Percy spat as Selene stood back to look the son of Poseidon in the eye._

 _"I was there first!" The faded titaness screamed. "She stole my job! She made me fade!"_

 _Percy didn't know why she still got worked up over everything he said. Sure, he had called her 'the other Artemis' the first time he met her and continued to do so when she kidnapped him and started to torture him for 'making such a grave misunderstanding.' But hey, apparently she cared about what he thought._

 _And it wasn't a misunderstanding. They could have looked like they were related if someone put them side by side. It might have just been the moon's power though, as Percy knew that they shared no parents and that Selene was a titan from far before Artemis was ever born._

 _"No," Percy argued, the fire in his eyes not going out in the slightest. "You lost it when humans thought Artemis was a better moon goddess than you. So far, they've been right."_

 _His head snapped as it was suddenly rocked to the side. Pain blossomed in his cheek and Percy had no doubt that it would bruise for the next few hours. At least until the healing intervals kicked in. A taste invaded his mouth, pouring from somewhere inside. He recognized the taste from when he was younger and put his mother's silverware in his mouth before Gabe sold it for his gambling: pure silver._

 _It was still a taste to get used to. His life had been spent memorizing the taste of blood. How it entered, how long it'd been there, how long the after taste lasted. He'd done this since before Camp Half-Blood. When Gabe beat him, he'd memorized the contours of his mouth, knowing the best places to put cobs to stifle the bleeding._

 _With one punch, Selene had done what had usually taken Gabe thirteen to do. Despite the situation, Percy had to admit he was pretty damn impressed. She had Bob's strength. He usually held back on punches to the face, at least until Percy's final exam. But Percy could always tell before then with the punches he caught, that titans were not beings to be trifled with. It was a wonder why Percy liked making immortals angry beyond belief. Yes, he did it on purpose but not all the time._

 _Silver filled his mouth but he refused to swallow it. He knew just the thing. Without thinking anymore about it, he emptied all the blood that pooled in his mouth onto the Titan of the Moon's dress. The silver splatted the black, making it less elegant and more like an abstract painting._

 _Selene stood there, her hands in the air as she stared at her dress the best she could._

 _"You little shit!" She screamed. Predictably, she summoned a small dagger and plunged it into Percy's hip and right through the bone. Percy gritted his teeth hard enough to crack them. Mother fucker, that hurt._

 _"That all you got?" Percy taunted. "Artemis would do better."_

 _Selene's eyes went wild with a whole lot of crazy as she roared in rage and drove the blade sideways, slicing the bone and flesh along the side of his hip and to his back. No doubt that it would scar in his mind, Percy growled and a sudden clarity came to him. He'd been doing it all wrong. He was making her attack him the way she would. He had to make her attack him the way Artemis would. She was crazy. Crazy led to broken._

 _The titan pulled out the dagger, tearing the remaining flesh as she did so. He now had a gaping wound in the shape of a 'C', starting at the right side of his pelvis and stretching all the way to the other side of his back, right at his hip._

 _"How's my dress now?" She snarled._

 _"Your dress still sucks," Percy told her. "It might've been pretty if you weren't wearing it. And let me tell you," he gasped, "I've slept with monsters but there is no way in Tartarus' god damned armpit that I'd sleep with you."_

 _Selene had a thoughtful look on her face until she suddenly grinned. "Then I guess you won't be needing this then," she said innocently as she tapped the blood dripping to his flaccid penis. Did he mention he was naked? Been that way since he suddenly appeared in the darkness. Then he was approached by Selene._

 _He held in a scream as she started sawing. Crotch shots were nothing new to him but this was. He'd heard the stories about the Hunters castrating boys who walked into their camp and things like that, but he was guessing Selene didn't know what happened topside if she didn't know who he was, even when he told her his full name._

 _Percy's eyes glowed a dangerous green and black by the time she was done. He could hear the spatter of blood dropping from his pelvis and onto the dark expanse that was considered a floor, coating it with silver. He could feel his 'blood' run down his legs and feet, dripping off his toes and on to the floor._

 _Selene widened her eyes when Percy started to suddenly chuckle. "Look," he said in a strained and quiet voice. "Little Artemis Junior comes out to play. How'd that feel, Arty?"_

 _"W-what?" Her voice was shaking making Percy smile broader. Sure, he got castrated and it hurt beyond anything he'd ever experienced physically- but the look on her face made it all worth it. Manipulation was a fun game; he saw why Kronos loved it so much._

 _"Trying to convince me you're nothing like Artemis by doing the exact thing she does to every man that stumbles across her camp? The most perfect plan if I've ever seen one." Percy chuckled. He'd taken a gamble but Percy had to admit it sort of paid off. Seeing the look on Selene's face was priceless, even as she stared at him. She hated being compared to the Moon Goddess. And if she did something that Artemis was known for... she was too crazy to not be broken._

 _"N-no! I'm n-nothing-g like Art-Artemis!" Selene denied. She stumbled back as Percy broke the chuckle to laugh._

 _"Oh, that's rich!" Percy yelled to nothing. Play the part, he told himself. "Artemis is the most feminist goddess there ever was and will be. Didn't you hear what she and her Hunt has done to boys who walk into her camp? That see her hunt? Congratulations, you're officially an Artemis Mini-Me!"_

 _"I-I'm not like her! You're lying!" She accused. She was trembling. Her insecurities were getting the better of her, especially when Percy exploited them. She seemed to forget the blood on her dress as she hugged her arms to her chest. Her face was splattered with his blood but she didn't notice as her bottom lip was trembling and tears formed in her eyes that were so much like her successor's._

 _Percy stopped smiling and leveled his head to look Selene in the eyes. This was it. The biggest gamble he'd ever taken so far besides the Styx. Taking a deep breath and leveling his voice, he said, "I swear on the Styx that Artemis has and will continue to castrate men because they are men."_

 _Even in the darkness, they could hear the rumble of divine thunder sealing the oath to Percy's every word. They waited for something to happen. For Percy to be struck down or whatever happens the moment people swear on the Styx. But nothing happened. Selene fell to her knees, tears falling from her eyes and washing his blood away in streaks._

 _Both the chains of her sanity and the ones that held Percy up to nothingness snapped. Percy dropped to the floor of darkness and in a pool of his own blood. He tried to stand on his shaky and malnourished legs but the pain that held in between the appendages was too much and he collapsed on to the floor._

 _Selene didn't make a comment. She didn't look up. Didn't move her eyes or even acknowledge that he had got out of the chains. She was broken and Percy's the one that smashed her against the wall of insanity. After so many years of hate to the one that got her job, being confronted that she was just like her caused her to break. It was exactly what Percy was hoping for and he sort of hated himself for it._

 _It was half an hour later when the healing interval kicked in. His side stitched itself together, but scarred over because of the ferocity of the attack. His crotch was something else. It regrew. Percy didn't bother making sure it was okay and working right; that would just be weird. But he swore to himself that after all of this, he needed to get laid._

 _He collapsed and laid where he was sitting. Groggily, he tore all the cuffs off his body. The ones on his legs, the ones on his wrists, and the one on his neck. His eyes still glowed a brilliant green and a dark black, but the red seemed to open up and try to swallow up the other colors._

 _Inside his mind, something opened. He'd felt it in Tartarus, when he'd manipulated Bob into doing things but now it was bigger. More present. It felt as though it was trying to change his body. And Percy was too tired to stop it._

 _Bones shifted and he got smaller. He could feel the phantom pain of when his crotch was cut off but he ignored it. Black fur covered his body and his legs turned into a dog's. A tail grew but then so did another. Both were bushy and right beside each other. The red in his irises consumed the other colors until that was all that was left. His paws were pure white and so were the tips of his two tails._

 _Selene looked up from the floor and stared at Percy for a while. Then, in the quietest and most broken voice he'd heard from practically anyone, she whispered, "Pretty fox."_

Thalia Grace woke up screaming into the night as if she was being killed again and again. Immediately, Phoebe and Artemis barged in to the tent with their daggers in their hands and at the ready. But no one was in the tent but Thalia.

She was crying, holding herself as she tried to get the images and feelings and thoughts out of her head. Thalia could still feel the silver blood she dreamed about dripping down her legs and the abhorrent taste of silver entering her mouth. The Lieutenant of the Hunt felt arms wrapping around her torso and shoulders, gently pushing her on to the twelve year old form of her mistress, Artemis.

Once she stopped crying, she looked up to Artemis, meeting the silver yellow eyes of the woman she served. And the ones so much like the ones of the girl in her dreams.

The ones the Percy she loved broke.

Line Break 1

When Riptide plunged into Percy's heart, his body immediately collapsed into black sand and left his clothes and sword(s). It spread throughout the entire ground and disappeared once the sand separated enough to cover all of Tartarus. Yet, Tartarus couldn't feel Percy's body reforming anywhere within the pit. It was like he disappeared.

The first year of Percy's death, nothing happened. Percy still hadn't reformed but his soul was still safely within Nyx's locket so that meant he hadn't passed on. He was still wherever he was and was still remaining there. Tartarus and Erebus spent the year looking for the rest of the Frikádes, trying to know where they were and what they were planning.

The second year of Percy's death was much of the same. Nyx still waited at the edge of Tartarus, waiting for Percy to walk out and try to find her. She'd come to love him as a brother and if she just killed him... she wouldn't be able to handle it. Erebus reminded her that some archetypes take longer to form than others.

By the third year, Tartarus wanted to end Kelli the Jezebel himself. She would not stop asking when Percy would come back. He'd answered that Percy was on a mission and wouldn't be back for a while. She would huff angrily and mutter that he'd better be back soon and then reappear two months later asking if he had heard any news on him. Percy had got her hooked and addicted.

During the fourth year, Erebus found some of the more intelligent Frikádes. They had clouded themselves with mist and went to the mortal world, apparently interested in how it changed while they were locked away. They soon got into the government and became political figures or just public figures in general.

Ouranos had made contact with them in the fifth year. He realized what was going to happen and what they had to do to keep the Frikádes from destroying the world. He told them that he was forming an squad of sorts and Nyx had offered her warrior as help once he came back. They didn't tell him that Percy Jackson the Ravager was the warrior they told him about but only that the warrior became Nyx's Champion and was reforming.

It was when the sixth year of Percy's death that he came back.

Nyx was walking into the throne room, disheartened from another day of no Percy sightings. She didn't know why he hadn't come back. He wasn't dead; his soul was still humming Claire de Lune in her locket. It seemed even his soul liked the song.

She hardly glanced up into the throne room when she noticed it. It wasn't large, barely three feet tall, but it still made a presence. She could feel the aura of raw power coursing off the swirling black dome that laid at the foot of her throne. It moved counter clockwise, slowly turning as though it was the Earth.

Nyx took a step towards it and it reacted, shoving ripples through the less than stable dome structure. It rippled like water, and that's when she saw it: the dome was made out of some kind of black sand. It moved, growing larger as it did so, and letting little bits of sand fall to the floor. Nyx didn't know how this dome was getting more sand to grow but it was getting it from somewhere.

Some bits of sand glittered like broken glass, making the dome have more wave-like characteristic than it already had. Nyx took another step and the dome wavered, tearing at itself. Through one of the cracks, she could see something inside physically moving.

"Mother fucker," the dome muttered. Nyx stopped breathing. She recognized the voice. She hadn't heard it in six years but she knew what it was. It was Percy's voice. He was back! He was reforming in the throne room!

Nyx couldn't stop herself as she ran forward to get closer. It turned out to be a bad idea as the dome started to spin faster and sand started to fly off the rapidly spinning dome and into her eyes. Suddenly, hands reached out from behind her and grabbed her to pull her away.

"Get her out of here!" Erebus yelled into her ear. The wind was howling and the sand hitting the walls and thrones was making a large, almost overpowering noise. Erebus was clearly talking to someone else. And as much as she wanted to disagree and argue, she felt someone else's rough hands grab her shoulders and pull outside the room.

"Perseus!" Nyx could hear Erebus call. She quickly rubbed the sand out of her eyes to turn around and see. "It's Erebus! You can stop now! You're here! With Nyx and Tartarus and I!" The sand didn't die down one iota. "Perseus!" The sand went haywire. The grains of rock began to crawl up the walls, onto the ceiling, and fall down onto the dome again. Large chunks of the marble floor seemed to shift and lift slightly.

"Percy!" Nyx yelled. "Stop!"

Immediately, everything obeyed her command. Sand hung in the air. The wind wasn't moving. The dome wasn't spinning or growing. She could feel the soul in her locket go silent. Everything waited for her. For her voice. For her command.

"You can stop," she told the dome. She started to walk towards it, ignoring her other half and her other brother as they tried to grab her. Nyx was close enough to the dome that she could touch it. So that's exactly what she did. Her hand met silk. The sand was so smooth it was like she was feeling the soft sheets of her bed.

"Everything is fine; you can come out." The sand around the area she was touching began to cave, spreading to the rest of the dome and it collapsed around a figure sitting cross legged on the floor and facing away from her.

She noticed he was naked. Quickly forming a blanket of night, much like her own brother's blankets of darkness, she wrapped it around his shoulders and he immediately put it around his waist. Nyx barely caught a glimpse at a scar that wasn't there when he died. It was so prominent that if he only wore jeans, she'd still be able to see it because it would stick out of the hem.

When Percy stood up, she immediately crashed into him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He returned the hug almost immediately, wrapping one arm around her waist while the other arm held the blanket in place.

A purplish black aura surrounded the two as the Primordial-Champion relationship ritual was completed. He was now purely under her command and she was his patron. He could of course deny an order- he wasn't a slave- but he had the right to deny any other immortal of any favors against or to her. Nyx was too in to hugging him that she almost forgot what would have happened. She quickly unwrapped herself from the hug and took a look at Percy's chest.

Slowly, black erupted from under his skin and painted it with patterns and the runes she used at the beginning of the ritual. It spread on his right side, blossoming up his abdomen and down his arm to his hand. It was tribal, with the occasional picture and rune within the space of the black ink.

"Gods, I've missed you," she told him. He only tightened his hold on her. Erebus and Tartarus came up behind them, each giving Percy a pat on the shoulder. They congratulated Percy on reforming again and then sent him off in the direction of the rooms to get some clothes. They had a lot to talk about once he got back.

Line Break 2

"How long have I been gone?" Percy asked. He had just come from Erebus and Nyx's room in the House of Night wearing new clothing. A black shirt and the same color jeans. They were quite comfortable, given the fact they were made from shadows and held together by nothing. Not a stitch of cloth.

"Where ever I was didn't have a calendar. Or days. Or nights. It was just perpetual darkness forever with the occasional sliver of silver given to me by Selene. And she didn't like me all that much." He understated.

He had caught Nyx's look when she spotted his new scar. He wasn't going to tell her or anyone what happened while he was in the Darkness. He didn't want to see her face when he told her he made the Titan of the Moon insane and broken. Percy could barely stand it himself. It was better to lock it away from and never speak of it again, soon to forget it.

"You were in the Void?" Tartarus asked.

"Is that what it's called?" Percy responded. "I just called it 'the Darkness.' It's better sounding, don't you think? More ominous."

Yes, it certainly is," Erebus mused. "What did you do to piss Selene off?" Erebus asked, amusement clear in his voice.

"I may have told her that she was 'the other version of Artemis'." Percy waited until they were done laughing to continue. "She didn't like being compared to the goddess that stole her job and made her fade. So tell me, how long was I gone?" He was desperate to change the subject and keep his secret. Luckily, Tartarus came to his rescue. Only to unload a whole new problem on to the Champion.

"Six years," Tartarus answered in that simple way of his. Like nothing was wrong with what he just said.

Percy, on the other hand, spewed out all the nectar he was drinking onto the floor. "What!" He yelled shocked. "How's my mom? How's Paul? How's the camp? How's _Alex!"_

Nyx suddenly looked down, ashamed. "We... haven't kept up to date with how your family is doing," the Primordial deity admitted. "We checked last year and they were fine but we haven't checked in about half a year." Percy glared but Nyx quickly said, "We can take you to them as soon as possible but for now, let us finish."

Percy scowled but nodded. He didn't appreciate the fact that no one checked on his family in so long but he didn't want to cause a problem. Especially with Nyx. He wasn't just her protector or her errand boy. He felt like a brother so he swallowed his disappointment, determined not to make her feel ashamed again.

"Alex was doing fine," Nyx continued. "She has a problem concentrating in school but she hasn't been kicked out of any." Percy smiled at that. "Sally wrote a book and is now a seasoned author with a New York Times Bestseller. And Paul still teaches high school."

"And camp?" Percy prodded. "My friends?"

"Like there's anything to worry about," Tartarus scoffed. "They haven't had any large battles, demigods still come and go as they please, and most still look up to the Chase girl." There was a moment of hesitation before he continued. "You're friends are still looking for you and are more determined that ever. Nico is still shadow traveling between the camp and other places in the world while Thalia is scouring every portion of woodlands she can while she's with the Hunters."

"And Piper?" Percy asked. Before he died, he was sure she went off on her own. His memory was fuzzy at best. He was pretty sure she went off on her own but other than that, he didn't have a good memory from right before he died. He didn't want her to find him just yet, but that didn't mean he wanted her dead or wasn't going to do anything if she was hurt. And if she did find him, it was only another person he could rely on.

"Piper has gone missing," Erebus spoke. "Only us three know where she is."

"Where is she?" He demanded.

"The Lotus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas," Erebus answered. "She went there two years after you died and has never left. We continued to keep an eye on her just in case but I can say she's not in any danger. Not unless she leaves."

"That's complete bull shit," Percy spat. His flaw was acting up. Piper was a friend. She was a friend looking for _him._ "You know she's in danger if any monster starts looking! The Lotus eaters won't do shit if a monster suddenly decides a charmspeaker is better than whatever the hell it was chasing!"

"What would you have us do?" Erebus asked. "Bring her here? With you? Knowing you could die over and over and over again while fighting beings more powerful than gods and titans combined?"

Percy looked at him straight in the eye, three of the five colors in his eyes glowing with unlocked power: the green, the black, the red; the sea, the night, the tricks. "Yes," he said.

Erebus and Percy stared at each other, neither backing down until the other won. Erebus caved first. The Primordial of Darkness looked over to his brother. "It's your Pit," he told him. "It's your decision on whether the daughter of Aphrodite can stay here."

When Tartarus looked to Percy, he felt his eyes harden in resolve. He was going to do this anyways. Piper was a friend. She was there because she was looking for him; it was his fault. There was no way in Hell that Percy was just going to leave her there.

"I see no problem with letting the love spawn come here," Tartarus said with a smirk, "if she were to stay with Percy. So he may keep an eye on her. For her safety, of course."

Percy twitched. That was cold. That meant Kelli and Percy time couldn't happen in his room. And Percy so wanted to get laid given what had happened in the Darkness. He'd spent a couple of months just laying on the floor in that weird animal form until he felt himself being dragged molecule by molecule in to the Pit.

But it was also understandable that Tartarus would want Piper close to Percy, the son of Poseidon supposed. No monsters would get on to her and if they did, Percy would have to deal with it himself as Piper would be under his protection. Monsters tend to not like demigods. And in the Pit, that hate is amplified by 3,000.

"That's fine with me." Percy stood up. "How do I get there?"

"I'll go with you," Nyx told him. "That way I can teach you about your new powers as a Primordial Champion and can get you to Ms. McLean."

Percy nodded before her words caught up with him. "Wait, I have new powers? How?"

"Along with becoming a Champion, they gain some of the powers of their patron," Nyx explained. "From me, you got shadow travel, the ability to heal faster at night, the ability to teleport anywhere it is night, and several more I'm not sure you have."

"There are some things we need to discuss when you get back," Erebus told him.

He raised his eyebrows but didn't comment as he came around and put a hand on Nyx's shoulder. "Ready when you are," he said and she nodded. Percy braced himself and felt her shadow travel. It was different, to say the least, from Nico's shadow travel.

Las Vegas was the same as Percy had been there when he was twelve. There were a few futuristic things, of course. Holograms, people on hover boards, a few robots.

"The world really has changed," Percy commented as he looked around at the people.

"A lot of things happened when you were gone," Nyx told him. She didn't elaborate more than that. Instead, she began walking towards a building that had to be at least half as tall as the Empire State Building. Glass windows with large balconies. It looked like a beach resort without the beach.

"The Lotus Hotel and Casino," Nyx told him. He took some time to look at her. She changed her hair, cutting it just short of her shoulders. Her skin was a little less freckly and she was as tall as his shoulders.

"I like your hair, Sis," he said as he walked inside the building, leaving her behind as she gaped at him.

The inside was even more extravagant than the outside. Even from the entrance room, Percy could feel the pull of the games and the showers and the women. But he didn't want any of that. Now, he wanted Piper in the Pit where he could keep an eye on her so she wouldn't do something so stupid as coming in to this clearly obvious trap.

Percy walked up to the front desk, admiring the way it was tinted glass. There was no way to see what was inside but it would no doubt make some people feel safe that there wasn't a gun or something inside when there so obviously could be.

The clerk was staring open mouthed at Percy when he saw him. The clerk looked to be a guy in his late twenties, with brown hair, green eyes, and a really bland features. Percy would almost say he saw that guy down the street two minutes ago if he didn't know that they weren't the same person.

"Perseus the Ravager," the clerk whispered in awe. Suddenly the clerk exploded into compliments and vigorously shaking Percy's hand. Not that he even offered. "I've seen all your fights!" The clerk said, clearly excited. "You are amazing! I can't believe you took down a titan and two Primordials by yourself!"

Bob, Tartarus, and Erebus participated in that battle. It was one of the hardest he'd ever fought and one he didn't want to repeat _ever_ again. They were holding back and Percy had been barely able to keep up. He'd gotten better over the years, but he never wanted to face those three by himself. They were evil.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck nervously before he straightened himself. "Look, I don't want any bullshit from you, so I need you to get me Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite."

The clerk looked crestfallen. "I'm sorry Mr. Ravager but it's against hotel policy to let any of our guests leave." The clerk yelped as he was suddenly pulled half way over the glass desk and had a celestial bronze xiphos suddenly pointed at his face.

"I told you I didn't want any bullshit," Percy snarled, showing his gleaming and sharp teeth. They were larger than the normal human's but smaller than Lycaon's. They were unusually sharp, to the point a simple bite from him could result in someone bleeding out. His eyes glowed red for a second. "You will get me Piper McLean or I will tear down this demigod trap brick by brick."

"Y-yo-you're fre-ee to look-k for P-Pip-er-"

"Ms. McLean," Percy corrected.

"M-Ms. Mc-cLean. Of c-course," the clerk amended. "I-I just-t can't g-get you her..." He trailed off at the end and closed his eyes.

Percy let go of his uniform and started to smooth out the wrinkles he had caused. "Why didn't you say so?" He asked in a casual tone as the clerk's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Sorry about your suit," Percy apologized as Riptide retracted into pen form. "I've got a habit of going overboard. You're suit didn't deserve such bad handling. You should take care of it."

The clerk nodded dumbly and Percy left, determined to find Piper. It was harder than he thought it would be.

Between the games and the luxurious women that tried to vie for his attention, Percy was having a hard time concentrating. There were so many tricks and so many delicious treats. A girl walked past him, dressed in a black leather jacket, ripped jeans, and an even more ripped shirt showing a generous amount of cleavage and skin, and Percy couldn't help but turn to watch her walk away.

Luckily, Nyx appeared next to him to snap him out of his ogling. "Shouldn't we going, little bro? Or would you like to continue looking like you're in a candy store?" She teased. Percy turned a little red and then muttered a 'you wish it was you' before walking away to look for Piper.

Nyx didn't bother answering but instead walking away in a completely different direction. It was- what seemed like- two hours later when they crossed paths again.

"Do you think she's in a room?" Nyx asked. They had searched the entire first floor already and nothing. Admittedly, Percy had gotten a little side tracked with the same girl walking past him but he quickly shook it off the next couple of times. He swore she looked familiar. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"It's a possibility," Percy said. "C'mon, let's go ask the clerk." He led them back to the desk and a different guy was at the desk.

This guy was huge and black. Muscles rippled over his arms and legs, making him look like the black and more ripped version of Wilson Fisk. No doubt he was never going to bend the rules like the other guy.

Percy grabbed Nyx by the elbow and turned her away from the entrance, where he could talk to her peacefully. "That guy isn't going to go for bending the rules," Percy told her. She raised an eyebrow. "Fine, he won't be threatened easily." Sentence amended, Nyx nodded. "I need you to distract the guy while I grab the key."

"Couldn't you distract him?" Nyx asked.

"Probably be the best at it," Percy admitted. "But I doubt it would be long before he tries to chuck me from the building and catches you."

"You and you're ability to anger any immortal in the shortest possible time," Nyx laughed.

"Go ahead and laugh it up," Percy encouraged. "You won't think it's so funny when you're the one on the other end of it." This caused her to laugh harder. "Are you going to be done any time soon? We kind of have a girl to get out of an enchanting hotel-like prison."

Nyx decided to wipe a fake tear from her eye and then saunter up to the new guy on the desk. Percy couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the guy as clerk's eyes immediately darted down to Nyx's chest, which showed a large amount of cleavage for a spaghetti strapped dress.

Deciding that he'd kill the worker later, Percy turned his attention to the task at hand. He had an idea about how to get past the desk and into the room behind it. It probably housed all the records of where a guest stays and where the keys were stashed.

Percy took his time carefully, surveying the area around him and his target. Deciding on a thing called 'Luck' and 'Improvisation,' Percy immediately went behind a pillar only for a black fox with red eyes to come out the other side. He was the size of at least two foxes put together; two and a half feet tall and four feet long, not including his two tails.

He padded past the clerk at the desk and slightly growled as he went into the room. He didn't like their topic of conversation at all. The guy should learn how to keep it in his pants. Carefully, Percy turned back into his human form and slightly shut the door, ignoring Nyx's surprised glance.

Finding the books were easy enough. They were just lying on the desk in the middle of the room. It was a small but bare room. File cabinets decorated the two sides of the door way, a desk was put on the opposite wall, there was a large key rack littering all the walls, and that was it. There was nothing but that in there.

The ledger was filled with names, all separated by dates. Percy had already thumbed through most of the current year before realizing that she wouldn't have been under the current year. She came to the Lotus Hotel four years ago. When would that be?

2017, right? That should be about right. Percy left for Alaska in 2013, his funeral was in 2014, and he died in 2015. Then two years later would be 2017 and- skip four more years- here he was in 2021. Damn, that was a lot of years he missed. He was going to have to make it up to his friends somehow.

Nah, him being alive will be enough if he doesn't tell him he stayed away on purpose. Even if he was dead for six out of the eight years.

He found Piper McLean and memorized the room number. Percy didn't bother trying to find a key. He wasn't going to unlock the place. Possibly knock and if she didn't answer, break down the door. Nyx could probably teleport him in but smashing down the door and unloading a can of 'Now, Honey...' Reprimands on Piper would be more fun.

Percy shifted again and nudged the door open with his snout. Noticing Nyx wasn't at the desk (but the guy was, thankfully), Percy moved on with the number in his head. Once he was sure he wasn't being watched by the guy who needed to die for flirting with Nyx, Percy changed back into his human form and went to find his patron.

It was when the girl- the one he can swear he knows- passed him for the third time in the last forty-five minutes that Percy lost control of himself. Finally having enough, Percy snatched her elbow and led her to the side of the walkway where no one would notice them talking. Just in case.

"Why are you following me?" Percy questioned harshly. "Do I know you?"

"Let go, you perv," she demanded. Her golden hazel eyes flashed dangerously while her ringlet chin length caramel hair whipped around her pale neck.

"Answer me," Percy demanded. "Why are you following me? There's no way we cross paths fifteen times in the last two hours out of coincidence. And no offense; you're pretty, but not that pretty."

The girl blushed but it was gone as quickly as it had come. "I could say the same to you," the girl retorted. "Who are the police going to believe? Me? Or the guy who's been checking me out all night?"

She had him there. And he wasn't being discreet about it either. Of course, mortal cops wouldn't be able to do anything. The moment they stepped into the hotel, they would immediately be enthralled by their surroundings. Then the girl would eventually forget about it and never to be seen by Percy again.

"Whatever," Percy gave as he unlatched her elbow from his grip. "I just wanted to know why you were following me. But I don't have time for this. Get going and try not to die."

Percy started to walk away when he heard her voice. "Hey!" She called. "Who are _you_ to walk away from _me?_ " She demanded.

Percy turned around for a second, allowing him to grin as he said, "Percy Jackson. Nice to make your acquaintance." And he disappeared into the throngs of people that milled around in the arcade, leaving her gaping at him and the flames in her eyes burning out.

Line Break 3

Piper McLean expected a lot of things when she opened the door. Her room service, for instance. Instead, she answered the door to a one dead Perseus Jackson and didn't get a word out before he said: "You're an idiot."

Percy stood nearly a foot over her and she was five seven. His black hair was shaggier and reached the nape of his neck. It had gotten darker too, almost like it was a void of nothingness. He was more muscled, with a tattoo covering the sleeve of his right arm. A scar stretched from the middle of his left cheek all the way down his neck to end at his collar bone. His eyes were what got her, though. They were brimming and swirling with little different colors in them. White, purple, red, black, and his sea green all swirled around like a hurricane on a weather map.

"Excuse me?" Piper replied. He couldn't be serious. This is the first time she'd seen him in eight years and he calls her an idiot? No way. "You're the idiot!" She yelled. "Letting everyone think you're dead and then go to your own funeral? What kind of idiot does that? What kind of idiot lets his own mother think he's dead?"

"Mom knew I was alive," he said. That caused her to be quiet. Sally knew? But she was balling her eyes out during the funeral? "You are the idiot because you came _here_ of all places to look for me. Are you stupid?" He asked. "You know this is where I went on my first quest and this is where Nico lived long before he came to camp! You know this place is a trap!"

"I wouldn't have gone in here if you didn't fake your death!" Piper retorted.

"I didn't fake my death," Percy argued. "The campers merely took my disappearance as a death. Not my fault."

"Not... Not your fault!" Piper screamed. In a bout of anger, she swung her fist at his face. But instead of getting contact, he quickly grabbed her wrist, twisted it to behind her back, and pushed her into the room she'd been staying in. Percy followed her in with another girl trailing behind him and quickly shut the door.

Piper landed on the couch and turned to glare at him. "You are the reason that everything went to shit," she told him. "It _is_ your fault. Thalia's having nightmares, Nico's close to giving up, and Annabitch still has control over both camps."

"Thalia's having nightmares?" Gone was the previous annoyance she'd seen in his eyes. Now, all that radiated off of him was concern for his sister-like cousin. "About what?" Percy asked as he sat down next to her on the couch. The woman he came in with sat in a chair to their opposite.

"You mostly," Piper answered. "Dreamed you were being tortured by an Artemis look-alike in a vast expanse of nothingness." She saw Percy go pale and the girl look at Percy with wide eyes.

"Percy-" She didn't get much out before Percy interrupted her.

"Not now, Nyx." Percy's voice was hard but Nyx was determined.

"Perseus!" She snapped. "You _will_ tell me what happened."

Percy looked like he was going to argue but just ended up sighing. "She really didn't like me calling her the other Artemis," was all he said. Nyx looked absolutely appalled.

"Thalia said that you made her crazy," Piper spoke softly. His eyes whipped to her and flashed red, making her nearly cower behind the couch she was sitting on. They were supernatural. Like Athena's or Annabitch's. Only the looked like they knew just the right way to convince her to kill her family. It made Piper shudder.

But then it was gone and the green was once again the background against the other colors. "She was already crazy," Percy replied. "I just helped her realize that broken was the better option." His voice let her know that the conversation was done with so she kept quiet. "What are you doing here, Piper?" He asked. "Especially alone?"

"I'm not alone," Piper told him. She saw how he glanced to Nyx and then back to her. "I knew I was being watched so I came here. Hestia was supposed so keep an eye out for you-"

" _Hestia!_ " He interrupted. The blood drained from his face as he looked to Nyx. "We need to leave. _Now._ " Without so much as an explanation, Percy grabbed Piper by the arm and hauled her over to Nyx where she put a hand on Percy's shoulder. Then they were enveloped by darkness just as Hestia opened Piper's room door and yelled: "He's here-" And then they were gone.

 **A/N: The poll is closed. The winners are: Hestia, Reyna, Sadie Kane, and Calypso.**


	7. Six

**Percy's Room; Tartarus**

"Piper, calm down!" Percy demanded as he dodged another one of Piper's fists. She'd been at this for the last two minutes; since he had Nyx shadow travel them back to his room at the Arena. The Primordial of Night was still there, simply sitting on one of his chairs in the corner and waiting for the heat to die down in the daughter of Aphrodite's eyes before she came in and shadow traveled them to Erebus and Tartarus.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" She yelled at him. "You kidnapped me! What the hell is wrong with you? How can you just kidnap a person?!"

"I had to work fast!" Was Percy's excuse. "Hestia already knew I was there!"

"So that justifies you taking me?" Piper snarled as she launched another fist to his face.

"Yes!" Percy answered brilliantly. "I can't have people knowing I'm alive. Thalia and Nico and Chiron can believe I'm not dead and look for me all they want; but I can't come back yet. The only reason I went to get you was to take you back to Camp Half-Blood!"

"I am NEVER going back there!" She yelled at him.

"Why not?" Percy asked exasperated. "Seriously! Why not? What's so bad that you can't go back to camp?"

"Jason's there! Okay?" She started crying and was immediately pulled into a hug. Percy held her tight as she cried into his chest. The only thought in his head: 'Well, that was a complete 180.'

"What happened Piper?" Percy whispered. He noticed Nyx was gone. She must have left to give them some time alone. Nyx wasn't very family oriented given that her children left them and she was trying to kill the rest.

"J-Jason an-and A-Anna-Annabeth," she sobbed. "I-I ca-caught the-them..."

"Shh," Percy whispered in her ear. He could guess what had happened; he wasn't exactly surprised. Blond hair, blue eyes, good swordsman, scar on his face. Who exactly was he talking about?

"It'll be okay," Percy whispered. "I'm sorry that happened to you." She hugged him tighter and he hugged her tighter. "I can drop you off at Camp Jupiter..."

"No!" She cried. She hugged him and buried her face into his chest. She knew she was acting like a child but Piper couldn't find it in her to care at the moment. There was something about Percy that made him comforting. When she was in his arms, she felt that everything was going to be alright. As she calmed down, questions piled in her head.

"Percy, why can't you come home yet?" Piper asked. She felt Percy tense up and immediately looked up into his eyes. He was a full head and neck taller than her and she had to crane her neck up to look at him. His eyes were so different from the ones she was used to. She was kind of sad that they hadn't been closer before he left.

"It's... complicated," he answered vaguely. "As for right now, I can't tell you anything just yet. How about I drop you off at Olympus? You can meet Hestia there and give the others a message for me."

"I don't like that plan at all," she replied. She got a determined look in her eyes that Percy didn't like whatsoever. "I'm staying with you."

Percy barked out a completely 'real' laugh and said, "No way. You can stay for a few days but that's about it."

"Why not?" Piper asked. "I don't see why I can't!"

"Indeed," Erebus said as he stepped out of the shadows. "Please tell me your reasoning Ravager."

Piper was a little more than surprised when Percy answered to the name. "Because it's too dangerous. The Frikádes are beings of great power; you told me that. There is no way I'm letting my friends fight this war! That's why I joined in the first place; to keep them as far from this fight as possible! To work in the dark for as long as I can!"

"Why don't you let her decide, hmm?" Erebus asked. "Take her on the mission two days from now and if she still wants to join you, she will."

"You can't be serious!" Percy yelled.

"Oh, on the contrary, I totally am," Erebus said with a smirk. "If she has the... stomach, to join you, she will. Is there any questions?"

Piper raised her hands and Erebus turned to her. "Who are you?" Piper asked. Something was seriously wrong with the guy. He gave off this feeling...

"Piper," Percy introduced. "I'd like you to meet Erebus, Primordial of Shadows and Darkness. Otherwise known as a real pain in my ass."

"I didn't know you swung that way!" Was Erebus' eloquent reply before he dissolved into shadows.

"You know I don't!" Percy yelled as he dissolved. "Fuck you!"

"Percy?" Piper asked. "What did you mean another war? Are you fighting again?" Percy didn't answer. "Dammit Percy!" She yelled as she pulled out of his embrace. She missed it as soon as his arms weren't around her. "I've had enough of fighting and I wasn't even leading! You've led two!"

"So does that mean you're going to let me drop you off?" Percy asked, hopeful. Couldn't Piper and them just stay away? Couldn't he fight and have peace that his friends were safe and away from the war he was fighting?

"No!" She yelled. "I'm not going to let you fight a war on your own!"

"I'm not alone," Percy argued back. "I've got Erebus and Tartarus and Nyx. Ouranos even has a squad that he put together and they're fighting the Frikádes with me."

"So you accept their help and not mine?" Piper offhandedly asked him.

Percy ran a hand through his hair and walked away to the window. He put his hands on either side of the pane and stared at the Arena he had killed so many monsters in. She wasn't making this easy for him. How could he tell her no? She was more stubborn than Silena and that was saying something.

"I'm coming with you Percy," she told him. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

Percy only sighed. Didn't mean he had to like it.

 **Line Break 1; One Year Before Percy Reformed**

The City of the Sky looked a lot like Olympus. With large arches, spiraling pillars, and tinted glass panes for windows. The weather was always peaceful. Large white clouds, clear blue skies, and even clearer nights. Stars littered the sky, drawing random patterns and moving with grace.

Zoe Nightshade was staring at the night sky and her own constellation when her life was turned upside down. The grassy field in the sky was one of her favorite places to relax and think back on her life. She didn't regret a second of it, even meeting the one good male in the world, Percy Jackson. She was glad she could serve her mistress as long as she could and she gave her life dutifully. She was convinced she didn't waste a second of her long partial immortal life.

But even now, there was something off with just sitting idle and letting the world pass her by. There was this hole in her chest that couldn't be filled with laziness or sparring with the other constellations, though she tried. She wanted to do something, _anything._ It was like she was a demigod with ADHD put into a solid white room with nothing to do.

It was in that type of mind that Lord Ouranos found her in. He knew of her predicament and her heavy heart. She had come to him, as the father she never had (who would argue that Atlas was any kind of father to her?), and told him of her troubles. How she hated being so still and how she wished for something to do. For something to battle.

It seemed funny to him now that he was about to give her more than what she wished for. It was the perfect situation in which 'Be careful what you wish for' applied.

"Lord Ouranos!" Zoe exclaimed surprised. He had never visited her, but usually called her to his palace to talk to her whenever he sensed she was unhappy. As a constellation and one of the citizens of the Sky, he knew when something was troubling her. It was quite intimidating.

Lord Ouranos' palace was the biggest palace in the City. It sat atop this big hill that overlooked the rest of the city and its' occupants. It could be seen from everywhere in the city and was large enough to house every minor god inside, though they would be crammed for space.

"Hello, Zoe," Ouranos said kindly. "Do you mind if I talk to you for a moment? I have an offer for you that I feel you will accept."

Ouranos was an old man in his late forties, with graying hair, wrinkles, and sky blue eyes. He had a muscled build and a small knife at his side. He wore classic Greek chiton the color of a clear blue sky.

"Of course," she said as she needlessly scooted over in the vast field more than ten acres large. "What is this offer?"

Though her English has gotten better, she preferred to speak in Ancient Greek. It was easier and she knew that it would never change again, given that any mortal that had spoken it was already dead. English was more of the language of the universe, like hot chocolate.

"What I say must stay between us, Huntress," he said, using her constellation name. His grim expression told her it was serious and she would need to be too. Not that she wasn't every second of every minute of every day. "Do you understand?"

Zoe nodded vigorously, while making it clear for Lord Ouranos to go on. "There is a threat on Earth that the gods and demigods cannot handle nor know about," he told her. "My older siblings, Nyx, Tartarus, and Erebus have taken matters into their own hands and have decided to fight this threat, along with their warrior. I have decided to join them."

"My lord-" Zoe was cut off.

"I will also be putting together a small squad to fight with me," he continued. "And I want you to lead it."

"Why me?" Was the first of Zoe's many questions.

"Because you are a capable fighter who thrives on the battlefield," he complimented her. "You know your way around a blade and how to lead a team. And I know I can count on you to keep an eye on my elder sister's warrior."

"You don't know if you can trust their warrior," Zoe put it simply.

Ouranos nodded sagely. "As much as I would like to trust my elder siblings completely, I cannot help to be cautious. Especially when they will not tell me the name of her champion."

"Her champion, my Lord?" Zoe asked. She had thought that they only had one warrior.

"Yes," Ouranos said. "Her champion is their warrior. It is the one and the same. While he will fight for my elder brothers, it is my sister he lives for. Like a god from Olympus, she has taken on a servant that shall do her every whim and shall fight until his very last breath to do as she commands."

A troubling look settled on his face as he looked to the sky. "You know of the Third Rule, yes?" Zoe shook her head. "It's my own theory. I've watched the world from above and the Third Rule is something I've seen. My theory is: everything powerful comes in threes. Take the Olympians. The original six are powerful beyond belief but their power stems from the Third Rule.

"Take Hera and Zeus for example," Ouranos explained. "They are the most powerful because they are the third child in their set. Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. The titans followed the same rule. They had four sets of three, with the Lord of Time being the last third child in that set and most powerful whether it was in minds or muscle. To make it worse, the titans were Gaia's third try at normal looking children. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Zoe thought about it for a second. Until a realization spread across her face.

"Yes," Ouranos said once he saw her eyes widen. "If the titans and gods followed this rule, then do the Primordials? The answer is yes." Ouranos sighed. "Nyx is the third child of her set. Her set containing Tartarus and Erebus. I am the third child of my own set and Gaia, the third child in her set. To make matters worse, even the Fates abide by this rule. That is why there is only three aspects of Fate and not four or two."

"What does this have to do with the champion?" Zoe asked. She still didn't see how it pertained to the champion of Nyx.

"If a Primordial were to take on a champion, they wouldn't be just a normal champion. They'd be a Primordial Champion. Now if I took a champion, they'd be a Third Rule Primordial Champion. Despite that they'd have to give up their soul and mortality to serve under their charge forever, they'd also be embued with the power of the Primordial they're working for."

"Wouldn't forcefully taking a soul out of a body while it's still alive be like giving demigods too much ambrosia or looking at the divine form of a god?" Zoe asked, completely appalled. Who would be so risky as to take that chance? To bet their lives and souls on seeing if they live past it?

"For a normal champion, yes," Ouranos told her. "But if the champion somehow survived having his soul ripped out, there are runes one must carve onto his weakest spot to tie him to me. The heart or neck is a good example. Once those runes are on, the champion takes on my full blessing. And if it's too much, they would combust into ash and their soul would burn out to fade, never to exist again."

"But what makes you untrusting of Nyx's champion?" Zoe asked.

"He survived perfectly." The statement caught her off guard for a moment. He must have seen because he hurriedly continued. "In all my life, I have never seen or heard of a being cleanly taking position as a Third Rule Primordial Champion with no consequences. I fear for the world."

"Where is her champion now?" Zoe questioned.

"Currently reforming. When a Primordial Champion gives his soul to the Primordial, they become an archetype so that they must always serve under their charge." Ouranos smiled. "I take it you're accepting my offer?" He asked.

"I am," Zoe replied, "though we have much more to discuss."

"And we shall do so at a later date," he said as he stood up and stretched. The night sky was a deep black. "Be careful from now on Zoe, even here. Though I may be the Sky, Night has as much pull as Day."

From then on, it was smooth sailing. Time passed in a couple blinks as though her eyes had fluttered open after a dream. Ouranos had formed his team and Zoe led them on training exercises. She trained and spoke to Ouranos about Nyx and her champion, the threat they were calling Frikádes, and what she was to be doing. As the year went on, Tartarus had shipped over weapons that were capable of killing Frikádes for the future missions Zoe and her team would be going on.

Her team consisted of other constellations. Hercules (she beat his ass for a good thirty hours to cement her position as leader), Orion (who Ouranos tortured and castrated himself as punishment for helping his ex wife try to take over the world), Draco the Dragon (who could change his size), and Aries. The constellation was formed by Ouranos himself and was more of a son than anything.

When fourteen months had passed, Ouranos called Zoe into his study, where he usually was while he tried to study the patterns of the Frikádes. On that day, though, he found something concrete.

"There is a Frikáde and his followers in Rome, Italy, working as a CEO for a security company that is employed by banks and other such things," he told her. "This is your first mission, Zoe. Do me proud."

"What of the champion?" Zoe asked. Ouranos put on a scowl.

"He refused to join us," he said. "He said that if he couldn't do it, he wouldn't drag you down with him."

Though that left Zoe confused, she quickly left Ouranos' study and went to pick up her team. They were excited that they would have their first mission.

"Finally!" Hercules exclaimed as she told them to get ready. "I've had enough of the training!" Orion nodded in agreement.

They were both the same height at six-six, though Hercules had a considerable amount of more muscle while Orion was more of a track athlete. Hercules had bright hair and electric blue eyes, tan skin and a very fake smile. He wore jeans but no shirt, convinced that all of the Sky needed to see his obviously steroid friendly muscles. He convinced himself that his strength was a powerful enough weapon against the Frikádes so he didn't take one out of the many that Tartarus had sent over.

Orion was much of the opposite. He has dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. He wore jeans and a long sleeved shirt. His own weapon was a spear that had called to him. It was four feet long, slick black, and very sharp.

Aries had orange hair and dark blue eyes with specks of white. He was six-eight and packed quite a large amount of muscle. He wore a bronze breastplate and guards with no helmet. His weapon was a sword sheathed at his side, reaching four feet long and large enough to be a cleaver.

Draco, the Dragon Constellation, didn't need a weapon as his powerful claws and fire breath would do the job. His scales were a ashen white, he had glowing red eyes, claws that dripped with poison, and acidic saliva he could launch at people. Draco could change his size at will, giving him enough room to shrink or grow upon the situation.

Zoe looked at her weapon as she put on her dark armor. It was two identical pairs of hunting knives. They curved inwards, like the horns of a bull. Her armor consisted of this thin material that Ouranos got from the mortal world. It was supposed to be bullet proof and have resistance to blades. It was a full body suit that snugged against her skin tightly, allowing her to put other clothes over it, like her dark black parka, jeans, and boots.

"Are we ready to go?" Zoe asked her team. She pretended not to see Hercules' leering eyes. It took a lot of begging on Ouranos' part to get her to stay on the team after he recruited Hercules. She wanted nothing to do with the slob that betrayed her but when Ouranos said that if anything happened, he would take care of Hercules himself... it put a lot of images in her mind of what he did to Orion. She could only hope he would do the same to the son of Zeus.

"Yes, Huntress," Draco hissed. She had decided to use her constellation name, not that it would matter if she used her real name. Hercules was still Hercules, Orion still Orion, Aries still Aries, and Draco was still Draco. Only Zoe had a constellation name that was different from her real name. So why not use it?

"Then I suppose we need to go as soon as possible," she replied. Draco grew large enough to fit Zoe, Hercules, Orion, and Aries on his back and they climbed on. His wings were giant, the size of at least two dump trucks, and they picked up on the wind faster than any other. They flew down to the world, watching as the night sky went on and on.

Rome wasn't that far. The City of the Sky was practically a space outside of space. Like a pocket dimension. They could enter the world from where ever and they wouldn't have been seen on any radar. The City of the Sky was a spectacular thing.

The old city of Rome was something spectacular as well. They still held their old architecture but they also incorporated things from modern times. Like the HQ of where their Frikáde lived and was hiding out. It was a large twenty story building like any other security company. It had large windows, glass doors, and its' insignia everywhere.

But something was wrong. The windows were shut with large shutters of metal, a red light was shining through the cracks, and Zoe could hear the siren of an emergency switch blaring inside the building.

"Something's wrong," Zoe said as they landed. Draco agreed with her.

"I smell blood," he told his leader. "Lots of blood."

"Human?" Zoe asked. But Draco shook his head.

"No," he answered. "It smells like ichor but it's different. Like oil."

"What are we doing just standing here?" Hercules demanded as he walked in front of them. "Let's go inside and kill the damn Frikáde already."

Zoe really wanted to argue with him. To make him slow down and take a good look around him. To actually make him think for once in his goddamn life. But she was still vindictive towards the son of Zeus, so she let him go to hopefully die. He'd go back to the City of the Sky, as he's a permanent resident and would reform quickly. That and he was a god, so he was never truly dead.

"Let's go!" Hercules called over his shoulder, spurring Orion to follow as Hercules reached the door. Draco and Aries looked to Zoe, knowing that she was leader and wasn't as stupid as the god. Zoe nodded her consent and they followed Hercules to the door.

The door was sealed in a large metal cover. Hercules ripped it open without any trouble. The metal bent to his hands and he neatly put it aside as to not attract much attention, though Zoe looked around just in case they did draw any attention.

Glass sliding doors opened without much hassle and they were unlocked. Zoe went in first, followed by Draco, then Aries, and then the other two. The lobby was a sight of a horror movie. Bodies littered the floor and the furniture. Only, they weren't mortal bodies.

Small, grayish green bodies lied on the floor oozing black blood. From what Zoe could tell, they were four feet tall, had protruding jaws and wiry muscle. Where their eyes should be were large wrappings the same color of their skin, like a blindfold. The blindfold seemed ingrained into their skin, as if the bandages were apart of them. Their jaws were more disgusting. Some of the bodies had four-way open jaws. It reminded Zoe of leeches.

The blood was something else together. It gave of the smell of gasoline and something else. The bodies didn't have that much blood but the floor was covered in it. Some of the bodies were mutilated; cut in half, beheaded, disfigured, the list of went on.

"What the hell happened here?" Aries asked as he looked around. A few inches above his hand was a glowing yellow light, perfect for illuminating a dark room like the lobby of the security company.

"Someone beat us here, that's what happened," Hercules snarled. "Fuck!" He kicked the nearby body of a Horror and sent it flying to the other side of the room, spraying black blood over the already coated tile floor.

Horrors were the subordinates of Frikádes. Like demigods were to gods or demititans to titans. They were the children of the elder Frikádes. They followed their parent until the end or anyone that shows a bunch of power. Like Minions, they follow the baddest bad they can find without question, as long as that baddest bad isn't defeated.

"Keep quiet," Zoe hissed as she pulled Hercules away from another body he was about to kick. "We don't know what happened here and we don't know if what- or who- caused this is still in the building. So shut up and keep moving. If what caused this is an enemy, we need the element of surprise."

"Zoe," Orion called. He was kneeling next to one of the bodies. He beckoned her over. Once she was close, he started talking. "What ever did this... there was only one."

"What do you mean? As in their was one blade or one attacker?" She questioned.

"Both," Orion answered. "Who ever did this was fighting with a single sword. And based on all the other wounds on the other bodies, I can tell you that he was the only one fighting."

"The only one fighting?" Zoe asked. Though she may be a hunter, Orion had caught Artemis' attention for a reason. His skills nearly matched Artemis'. Including his skills at tracking.

"Yes," he said. "There was a second person standing at the entrance. But they just hung back and let this guy do the fighting."

"How did he kill these?" Aries asked. "I thought Frikádes couldn't die by anything but Tartanean steel?"

"That would normally be the case," Zoe replied, "but these are Horrors. These are easier to kill than Frikádes. Mortal steel would probably wound them but anything like celestial bronze and imperial gold could kill them if you get it deep enough."

"This guy definitely used Tartanean steel." Zoe turned back to Orion. "This Horror here," he pointed to the one he was kneeling over, "he was disemboweled. The blade went only maybe two inches in. This guy was definitely using Tartanean steel."

"Do we know anyone else who was using Tartanean steel?" Aries asked. "I thought we were the only ones that were actively looking for the Frikádes?"

"No," she said. "There's another. He wasn't supposed to be here though."

"I don't care whether he's supposed to be here," Hercules sniffed. "I wanted a fight and this guy takes all of it? He's so going down."

"I would advise caution but it would probably go over your head," Zoe sniped at him. "The man I'm talking about is the Primordial Champion of Lady Nyx. He's been living in the Pit of Tartarus with Erebus and Tartarus himself for years. We know next to nothing about him and if this is his way of saying that we need him, he's right."

"We don't need that guy!" Hercules exclaimed. "I can-"

"I smell something," Draco announced, thankfully cutting off Hercules' rant. Zoe stood up and turned to him. "It's faint but it's there. Up those stairs. More oil and something else. The... scent of the beach?"

"Hey," Aries said. "What's that?"

They all turned to find a pool of silver. Zoe bent down to get a closer look at it but suddenly whirled around with a dagger to Hercules throat. He'd been just about to touch her butt when she felt his presence.

"Try to do anything like that again," she snarled as she pressed the dagger tighter against his skin and drew blood, "and I'll lop you're head off."

"It's blood," Draco announced. Zoe removed the dagger and Hercules rubbed his neck. She turned to the dragon. "Immortal blood by the smell of it. Though there's something... off about it."

"We need to find the Champion," Orion told her. "If he's doing this..."

Zoe nodded. The Primordial Champion was a skilled fighter if he took everyone out. They would need him. Though he could be potentially dangerous. Lord Ouranos asked her to look after him for a reason. Those reasons now littered the floor.

 **Line Break 2**

There was nothing on floors one through twenty-three. It took maybe an hour to check each floor thoroughly but they couldn't afford to be sloppy. Those floors were strangely clean. There were no Horrors lying dead on the floor or in any one of the offices. The elevator music wasn't on; someone before them fired a few slugs into the speaker system.

Floor twenty-four, however, held a lot more bodies than the lobby did. The smell was nearly over powering. Hercules had thrown up twice in the next five minutes. Though Zoe had studied the floor plans of the building, it appeared as though the plans were outdated. If it wasn't for Draco's impeccable sense of smell, they wouldn't have known which way to go to find the Primordial Champion. If he was there at all.

After seven minutes of walking on floor twenty-four, they heard voices. One was obviously a male and the other was female. Zoe and the others stopped and Aries got rid of his light, trying to listen to whatever they were saying.

"-you won't let me fight," the girl was saying. "It's not like I can't take some of them."

"I'm sorry, have you been training to fight them for the last two years?" The man asked sarcastically. "Sure, go on ahead when you're totally unprepared for what's going on. Frikádes would eat you for breakfast, Charm. As far as I'm concerned, you're lucky to be here right now."

"You've been training for two years?" 'Charm' asked. "What the hell have you been doing the other six years?"

There was a pause. "I told you I got bored of being dead," the male said. "I wasn't saying that so you could feel better. I've spent the last six years reforming."

"I didn't mean it like that-" Charm was interrupted.

"Whatever," he said. "Let's just get this job done. I've been fixing to fight a Frikáde and ask them where Sammael is."

"Sure, Karma," Charm agreed softly. "Whatever you say." There was a pause. "How long is that going to be?"

"Would you rather I just blow it up instead of unlocking it?" Karma asked. Zoe risked a peak around the corner her team was hiding behind. It was dark but the emergency lights gave enough light to see by. They were by a set of double doors with a pass code lock. The female was standing, watching the kneeling male take apart the lock and start picking at it with a pair of pliers.

Charm was a girl roughly Zoe's height. She had choppy brown hair and tan looking skin that almost matched to the darkness around her. She was wearing black jeans, shirt, and hoodie though the hood was down. Around her face and lower part of her mouth was a red half face motorcycle bandanna. There was some design on the mask that Zoe couldn't make out. She had two daggers on each of her hips. Three were Tartanean steel and the other one was celestial bronze. It looked really familiar.

Karma stood up and faced Charm. Zoe could see him clearly now. He was wearing close to what Charm was wearing. Black jeans and shirt, but he was wearing a dark blue hoodie with the hood drawn up and over his head. He, too, had a motorcycle half-mask covering the lower part of his face. His was black and didn't have a design. A sword was strapped to his back. It was as long as the Karma's arm, black, and dripping blood from its scabbard. Zoe couldn't see his eyes.

"Well, it would be faster," Charm said. She cocked her hip to the side and put her hand on it, staring down Karma.

"But it would also be louder," Karma countered. "I want to sneak up on him. That way I can capture him and get some information out of him."

"Why are you so hellbent on finding this other Frikáde anyways?" Charm asked. "What's his name? Sammael?"

"Yes," Karma answered. "I need to find him to kill him. And I need to kill him because he has my sent. I can never be in the United States for more than a few minutes before it starts to draw him my way. My scent was already powerful before I became Nyx's champion. Now, if it wasn't for my reputation as the Arena's Ravager, I'm pretty sure most of Europe's monster population would be heading towards me right now."

"So you can never go back-"

"Until he's dead," Karma finished. "Yeah." There was another pause. "C'mon. Let's get back to trying to kill a lot of Frikádes."

Charm nodded and let Karma get back to work on the lock. "Oh," Karma yelled out. "You can come out now! I won't bite! Probably..."

 **Hestia's Temple; Olympus**  
 **Thalia, Chiron, Nico, and Hestia**

They were silent as Hestia waited for them to say something. Nico was glaring at the floor while Chiron had a shocked expression on his face. Thalia, to Hestia's astonishment, had angry tears streaming down her face and electricity dancing across her fingers.

"Why _her_?" Thalia hissed angrily as she suddenly stood up. Nico watched her with careful eyes. The way she said it bugged him. Like she now has something personally against Piper. His eyes widened as he realized that it was exactly how he would say Annabeth's name when he had a crush on Percy. But Thalia was a hunter. She couldn't... Could she?

Chiron looked like he wanted to say something but was quickly shut down. "Out of all people, he chooses _her_?" She asked angrily. "Why? It's not like he and Piper were close. Not closer than me or Nico. So why did he choose her!"

Hestia didn't have an answer but she didn't need one. "We were family!" Thalia continued as more electricity sky rocketed off her body. "So what made her so much more important that he'd visit her? That he'd take her with him? Why didn't he come back!"

Nico turned to Chiron who gave him a set of pleading eyes. The son of Hades sighed. The old centaur would owe him for this. Carefully, he put his hand on her shoulder, ignoring the numb feeling that spread up his arm as well as the burn starting to form on his palm.

She turned her angry eyes to him, probably to yell, but didn't. Couldn't. He saw through her eyes that she felt just like him: betrayed; cheated; sad. Percy had chosen Piper over them. Piper, despite barely being close to him, was the first to see him. And they were just so sad.

The little sparks off lightening stopped sparking off her body and she was pulled in to a brotherly hug by her cousin, who was feeling a similar pain that she was. A hot wetness dampened his shirt, surprising him a little. Thalia, daughter of Zeus and Lieutenant of Artemis' Hunt, was crying.

When she stopped and got out of the hug, Nico nodded to Chiron and the centaur turned to Hestia. "Could you start from the beginning, Lady Hestia?" He asked.

"Of course," Hestia told him. To the occupants in the room, it was a little weird for them to see the usual eight year old goddess to look like a teenager. Never less dressed so provocatively. She was wearing a leather jacket that stopped at her belly button, a ripped white shirt with the England flag, dark jeans with more than a few rips in them, and boots. Her usual eyes still burned and her hair was in ringlets. She looked like a classic rebel.

"As you know," she began, "Piper went into the Lotus Hotel and Casino with me posted as a watchman, which I agreed to do when you all told me that Percy was alive." They nodded. "What she didn't tell you was that she was being watched."

"By whom?" Chiron asked. He couldn't help but think of the time he corrected Percy when he first got to camp.

"By everything," Hestia answered.

"What?" Thalia asked. She was now convinced that Piper was insane and somehow just plain lucky. Percy had the opposite type of luck. The Luck of the Devil.

"Every where she went, she would notice monsters staring at her." Nico raised an eyebrow. Hestia answered his unspoken question. "They didn't try to kill her. They merely watched. Hellhounds especially. Whenever she got too close to them, they would run away."

"Maybe they just ran away because she's one of the Seven?" Thalia knew it was a stupid suggestion but what else was there? That Percy somehow gained control of monsters?

"That's what Piper thought," Hestia agreed. "Then she saw a girl."

Nico immediately perked up. A girl? Like the one Percy was with during his funeral (never thought he'd say that)? The one that could use shadow travel? The one they have no clue on her identity?

"Piper told me that it was like facing all of the Olympians in battle," she continued. "That her bones vibrated and her skin wanted to coil in on itself. And then the girl disappeared in to shadows.

"So Piper came up with a plan. She had a hunch that they were reporting on those who were looking for him. So she asked me to keep a lookout as she went to the Lotus Hotel and Casino, so that she could draw Percy out. Only that took just over four years."

"If I may ask, why are you in that form?" Chiron asked.

"As I am the goddess of Hearth and Home, I can shift in to a form of any one part of my domain, whether it's a child, teenager, or adult. Though this is an ability that most gods have." Hestia chuckled. "It didn't hurt that Percy didn't recognize me in this form."

Thalia's gaze snapped up to the goddess'. "You saw Percy?" Hestia nodded. "What does he look like?"

Hestia closed her eyes and she opened her palm, a large column of fire erupting from her hand. Inside the fire, there was a moving picture, like a recorded Iris Message. The saw a bunch of people and arcade games. And then they saw Hestia and Percy in the corner.

" _Why are you following me?_ " Percy demanded. " _Do I know you?_ "

Thalia noticed that he looked different. Taller, leaner... younger than he should be. Why does it look like he was twenty and not twenty four? He was supposed to be old. He had a scar on his cheek.

" _Let go, you perv,_ " Hestia demanded. They continued to talk and Thalia continued to gawk at the sight of her cousin. He was so different. He had a tattoo sleeve on his arm, reaching from underneath his shirt all the way down to the back of his hand.

Thalia's heart tugged when Percy called Hestia pretty. She shook her head. She shouldn't be feeling this. She was a hunter and once more, his cousin. _But gods don't have DNA,_ a voice in her head spoke.

"Thalia," Nico whispered. His fingers brushed her elbow and she turned to him. "Could I talk to you?" She nodded and he led them out of the small room.

They had previously been in the living room. As they went into the kitchen, Nico turned to her with his usual scowl and a hard look in his eyes. The kitchen was a classic; granite countertop with a silver sink and stainless steel pots and pans hanging from hooks above a stove. Hestia loved to cook mortal food, to keep in touch with her Home domain. There was a brick pizza oven by the regular oven.

"What, Death Breath?" Thalia asked. Despite the cool facade she was putting on, internally she was freaking out. Why did these feelings have to come up now? She thought she was over them!

"You like Percy." It was the blunt way he put it that made Thalia's heart stop beating. She'd fought long and hard against her feelings for her cousin. The way she said it in her head made it too anime for her to deal with. "How long?"

"How long what?" Thalia asked. She was bluffing. She knew exactly what he was asking. 'How long has she been crushing on Percy Fucking Jackson?'

"How long have you liked Percy?" Nico reiterated. He was leaning on one of the granite countertops and crossed his arms. His fingers were messing with his silver skull ring. "I saw how you were in there. You were jealous. How long have you liked him?"

Thalia closed her eyes and breathed a sigh. Could she tell him? Tell him that they both crushed on the same person at the exact same time?

"Since I woke up," she finally answered. Nico's eyes widened. "It started out small. Then we went on the quest to save Artemis. But it was never Artemis he wanted to save."

Flashback

 _It hurt. It didn't hurt much, but it was enough to make it impossible to deny that she liked him. Tears would have welled up in her eyes if she hadn't pushed them back. They would have fallen if she was alone and not in front of the entire Olympian council._

 _"Thalia Grace," Artemis called. Thalia tried her best not to flinch but she ended up doing it anyway. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him. Percy Jackson was watching her with a small frown. The edge of his lip was tilted down as he looked at her. Gods, she hoped he didn't notice her flinch. She never wanted him to see her weak._

 _Gods, she shouldn't even be thinking that. He was just about two years younger than her. Given that she was about to be sixteen in an hour and he was still fourteen, she shouldn't feel anything for him. Especially when she knew he loved her best friend._

 _She stepped up to the center to the throne room, facing the moon goddess. Thalia knew what she was going to ask. It was something Artemis had asked when Percy and Zoe were talking on the demititan's deathbed. She needed a new lieutenant and Thalia was powerful, leadership material, and was betrayed by Luke._

 _The thing was, that wasn't why she was going to say yes. She didn't like Luke like that. He was her friend, sure, but he wasn't a romantic influence in her life. The moment she opened her eyes to see the rings of sea green that swirled... she knew that he was different. Knew that he held a lot more power than she could. And that's one of the things that got her so angry all the time._

 _How could he undermine his power? How could he act like didn't have it? His personality didn't help either. Powerful people were supposed to be assholes, like her father. But that wasn't Percy. He was quiet spoken, humble, and acted like a leader. He was the only one who had stood up to her. Luke had done it a couple of times only to crumble under the weight of her glare but Percy Jackson was different. He never backed down from her and had a glare that matched hers._

 _"I am in need of a new lieutenant to help me with the hunt." Thalia ignored the shocked looks of the gods and her friends. But she did notice Percy. His green eyes swirled with emotions. She could see the shock and confusion that passed through his eyes. "Do you accept?"_

 _She couldn't help but look back at the son of Poseidon. He and Annabeth were leaning on each other. His hair had a silver streak in the front, a remnant of when he took the sky from Artemis. She saw the way they held each other. The way they held each other made her heart struggle and hurt. Would he hold her like that? Would he travel across the country to save her?_

 _"I accept, milady," Thalia said as she turned back to the goddess. There wasn't a future for them, as much as she wished they had one. As much as she liked him, he loved Annabeth. They didn't have a future. She didn't have a chance. With luck, the emotions would fade._

End Flashback

"After that, it started to ebb away," Thalia explained. She couldn't believe she was explaining this to _Nico_ of all people. Sure, they both had a crush on Percy Jackson (Thalia's was more current) but it was still weird.

"Why do I doubt that?" Nico smirked. She gave him a glare but he was undeterred. What was with children of the Big Three not being intimidated by each other? "I saw how jealous you got when Hestia told us that Percy took Piper."

"It's so screwed up!" Thalia exclaimed. "His mom is practically my mom and he's my cousin. He's practically been my brother for the last nine years; since the end of the Second Titan War."

"So have I," Nico said.

"You're gay and I don't have a confusing crush on you." Thalia told him.

"What's so confusing?" Nico asked on a rare bout of normal non-gothic personality. "Gods don't have DNA."

Before she could retort that it didn't matter, Chiron wheeled into the kitchen. He gave Thalia a look that suggested he knew exactly what she was talking about and turned to both Nico and Thalia.

"Hestia and I have talked," he told them. "We believe we need to tell the Olympians about Percy being alive." He raised his hand to silence their protests. "It's been eight years and we still can't find him. And now that we have proof that he's alive and he took Ms. McLean... We need their help to find Percy."

Nico stared at Thalia. She knew that he agreed with Hestia and Chiron. But he was waiting for her vote. Even years later, they did nothing without a unanimous vote. It's what stopped Thalia from going off on her own for years. Especially when monsters started gloating about their new and improved skills. The Hunters were fighting a pair of cyclops and they were having a really hard time finding a weak spot in their defense. The cyclops made a comment about getting destroyed by 'Perseus the Ravager' could be a good thing. They died shortly after that by lightening.

"Fine," she relented. He finally showed up on the world and they still can't find him. They definitely needed help. "But I want to control who's looking for him. Annabitch and my whore of a brother cannot go looking for him. Where he is, I bet Piper is right with him."

"How and when are we going to tell them that the Savior of the World is alive and stole a Hero of Olympus?" Nico asked Chiron. The old centaur just smiled.

"Let me take care of that," he said. "We tell them tomorrow. Please show up in something decent."


	8. Seven

Percy watched as a five man group came out from behind the corner. Well, 'man' was relative. One was a girl and another was either a dragon or a giant Komodo. The other three were males, though obviously not mortal.

"Who are you?" Piper asked. Percy wouldn't admit this to anyone, but he thought Piper looked good. Her clothes were courtesy of Nyx and very form fitting. It was like his sister was teasing him for a reason. But he had told her that he didn't want to be in any relationship that dealt with love because of Annabitch. He didn't want the hassle that came with it.

He knew he should at least hold some sort of feelings for the daughter of Athena that he had loved; but he didn't. It was like the feelings were voided or something. Maybe he just got over her? Maybe it was some kind of Tartarus magic? Who knew? The point was, after two years, a lot of 'sleepovers' with Kelli, and six years of being in the Darkness, Percy was done with her. He didn't feel for her anymore. Other than a grudge and the feeling that he'd kill her if he ever saw her again, he was completely blank when he thought of her. Which didn't happen often.

The person that drew his attention and made him see red was the shirtless man. He had giant muscles and clearly looked like he was using steroids. But Percy would recognize that face anywhere. He'd seen the man enough in his dreams during the quest to save Artemis and had even met him on the way into the Mediterranean: Hercules.

Percy turned his attention to the others in the squad before he could rip Dicklules apart. The giant iguana was a sickly white color, like ash, had glowing blood red eyes the color of a hellhound's, and its claws were tearing holes in the floor without meaning to. Percy made a mental note to never get scratched by them. And to never pet it.

The other male was familiar but not that much so. He had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes that reminded Percy of the familiar abyss under the ocean. Percy put the dots together quickly. Ouranos, lord of the sky, constellation, son of Poseidon; meet Orion, the git son of Poseidon. Again, Percy saw red. Wasn't he a giant in the Second Giant War eight or nine years ago? He had a Tartanean steel spear as a weapon.

The last male had orange hair. It was odd to see a carrot top but Percy wouldn't complain. Just another person he could call leprechaun and use his horrible Irish accent on. He was taller than Hercules and Orion but not as well muscled. His weapon was practically a giant cleaver. Maybe a machete but bigger, and square-er.

Then there was the girl. She was just as beautiful as Percy remembered her. It didn't make any sense on the 'HOW THE FUCK WAS SHE ALIVE?' front, but whatever. She was wearing a black parka and jeans. Her hair was braided and her eyes were as volcano black as ever. She still looked like a princess, even without the tiara looking thing she had as the Lieutenant of Artemis.

"Zoe Nightshade," Percy whispered. It couldn't be real. But it was. She smelled like Zoe. A combination of woods and ash. Like she was in Pompeii when it exploded and died. And given how old she was, it was certainly a possibility.

She was immediately on her guard. "How do you know who I am?" She demanded. Percy internally smiled. She had gotten better at her grammar. No 'thees' or 'thous' apparently. It made Percy happy that she was getting an education.

"Am I not supposed to know who is on Ouranos' team?" Percy sniped at her. He enjoyed riling up people. Gods were better, he guessed, but immortals were immortals.

"That's _Lord_ Ouranos to you," she snarled as she took out a Tartanean steel hunting knife from its sheathe. Piper reacted, drawing one of her daggers in response.

"Easy, Charm," Percy told her as he eased her dagger down back to its sheathe. "We're here for the same reason. Though you're not supposed to be here."

"I could say the same about you," Dickcules interrupted. "Lord Ouranos sent us here. Who sent you?"

"Erebus, Tartarus, and Nyx," Percy answered without missing a beat. He leveled a stare at Dickcules. He didn't like the hero then, and he was sure as hell he didn't like the guy now. "Though I did talk to Ouranos and told him that I'd handle this alone. So why he sent you here anyways, I don't know."

Zoe made to say something but Percy wasn't done yet. "I don't care what he told you. I told him that I would handle this. Now, if you'd be so kind as to leave and let me do my work, it would be much appreciated."

"We saw the lobby," the orange haired guy said. "We need your help."

"I didn't catch your name, Carrot Top," Percy told him.

"Aries," Aries introduced.

"Aries," Percy amended. "I need you to leave. Because what I'm about to do may make you throw up all your insides."

Percy said this calmly and in the most factual voice he could without trying to sound like a bastard. Piper looked at them before turning to Percy and motioning with her hands to hurry up with the door. Percy gave her a look that clearly said, 'Why? I want them to leave.'

She didn't listen.

"It doesn't matter if they're here or not," Piper told him. Loud enough to let the others hear as well. "Let's just get this over with. You said you can't be on the surface more than a few minutes. It's been close to an hour. Won't Sammael be on your tail by now?"

"He's probably on his way right now," Percy agreed. "Fine, but I'm not protecting them."

That was a lie. He would protect Zoe. Maybe the Carrot Top. But he knew for certain that he wasn't going to let Zoe die because of him. Not again. He wasn't powerful enough to help her the first time and he'd be damned if she died while he did have the power.

"Keep quiet and follow Charm's lead," Percy told them. "I don't want Ouranos on my ass because you guys are dead."

Dickcules snorted but Percy ignored it. He really didn't like that guy. No, he _hated_ that guy. Why couldn't he just have stayed in the Mediterranean? The Mare Nostrum. That brought back memories...

Percy snapped out of it and continued working on the door. The little code light was shining red until Percy took out the yellow wire, spliced it with the red, and put to the blue. The light shined green and their was an loud and audible click as the door unlocked itself. Percy sighed in relief. He wasn't as good with technology as he made it look.

Percy stood up and tossed the pliers over his shoulder now that he was done with them. They weren't his; he found them in a utility desk a floor or two down. He saw Zoe look at him oddly but he was already opening the door when he saw it. Deciding that he couldn't stop everything just to find out what she was looking at him like that for, he ignored the look and pushed open the door and went in, Piper keeping herself and the others from entering after him.

The office was massive. There was too much space and the furniture didn't even fill half of it. The lights were on in this office, most likely on a separate generator than the rest of the building. Which meant that Percy wouldn't get the drop on thisFrikáde. Carpet stretched over most of the tile floor. The carpet were fur rugs from animals and in one of the corners of the room was a bar.

By the far wall was a desk. It was beautiful if it wasn't for the Frikáde sitting on the top, waiting for Percy. Behind the desk was a large window, one of the only ones that wasn't covered by a sheet of metal once the security procedure was called in.

The Frikáde sitting on the desk was unlike Sammael. Where as Sammael had been a beast that could talk, this was a humanoid creature that made it apparent that it was more beast than man.

He had no eyes. That was the first thing about the Frikáde that Percy noticed. He was huge, muscled, and had no eyes or nose. His face was covered by skin colored muscle tissue and only showed his mouth which looked permanently bared. His teeth were like needles. Percy felt his own teeth grow in response and unwittingly had his eye color change to red.

"It took you long enough," the Frikáde reprimanded with a deep baritone. His voice was more like Atlas' than Sammael's but he did have that 'Older than Time' feel. He was wearing nothing but ripped khakis. Percy stepped forward more and saw the dead bodies of a few mortals lying in a couple blind spots. There wasn't a drop of blood on anything though.

"Sorry, the drive over here wasn't as traffic free as I would have liked," Percy said sarcastically as he checked the closest victim. Completely drained of blood.

"You won't find anything there," the Frikáde told him. "I have a tendency of not leaving any evidence."

"Didn't catch your name," Percy hinted. The Frikáde chuckled.

"Call me Vlad," Vlad said. "And what's your name?"

"Vlad, that's cute," Percy commented as he noticed the ravaged wounds on the bodies' necks. "You can call me Karma. Now before we're done with show and tell, why don't you _tell_ me where Sammael is and I'll _show_ you how to die a horrible and painful death."

Again, Vlad chuckled. "You and your merry band of misfits are going to kill me?" He asked incredulously.

"No," Percy said. "I am." He started to pace and keep an eye on Vlad. "See, I've been sent here by a bunch of very powerful people. You might know them. Tartarus... Erebus... Nyx-"

"You're lying," Vlad growled. It seemed like someone was a little over protective over Nyx. Was he her Frikáde?

"Am I?" Percy asked as he smiled. He bared his teeth and his eyes glowed red for a second until they went back to his regular colors. "See, that's what you think. Me? I think they realized what a bunch of crappy children you are. I mean, Nyx had some ugly kids but you take the cake."

"You think I'm Nyx's?" Vlad asked with a laugh.

"That or she's your grandma," Percy said. He smirked when Vlad stopped laughing. "And Bob's your uncle! Or should I have said BINGO?"

"What do you want?" Vlad asked. "Why are you here?"

"I told you," Percy replied. "I want to know where Sammael is. And I want to kill you but I can take a rain check on that if you'd like."

Vlad chuckled for a third time. "You're funny," the Frikáde said. He stood up off the desk and started walking, making him and Percy circle each other. The Frikáde was a good inch or two taller than Percy and the muscles on him were lean. Even without eyes and a nose, Vlad was still facing Percy. Probably using his hearing to locate him.

"I can't give you Sammael," he said. "Hell, he'll probably come to you. It is you he's after, isn't it? You smell like the beach, sure, but you smell different than your little friends out there."

"And you smell like a napalm victim," Percy retorted. "What's your point?"

"Well," Vlad answered, "if you stay still long enough, he'll come to you. He's really looking forward to killing you."

"Yeah well, the feeling's mutual."

"So are your friends going to be joining us?" Vlad asked.

"No."

"Are you sure? They could be so much fun. Especially the girls."

Percy slowly took out his sword. The last comment made him see colors. Not red like when he saw Dickcules, but a purple that accented everything in the room and not just the Frikáde. He could see part of a coat hanger sticking out from under the desk. The curtains that were pulled down from their rods. How Piper was keeping Zoe and the others from going any farther in, telling them that Karma could handle this. Gods, he hoped she was right.

"One blade?" Vlad asked. He seemed almost... offended. "That's all you brought to fight me? One blade made out of what? What is that? Stygian iron?"

"Sure, let's go with that."

Percy wasn't at all in a chatty mood. This guy wasn't going to tell him where Sammael was, that was fine. But this guy insulted Piper and Zoe. Planned to use them. That didn't make Percy a happy camper whatsoever.

Vlad made the first move. He was fast. Immediately, he was rushing at Percy with his jaws outstretched like a piranha and claws that elongated and blackened. Percy dodged the strikes with relative ease. Vlad was a quick but structured fighter. Percy was as much as the opposite of structured as he could get. He was unpredictable and moved as though he was water itself.

Percy found that simply dragging the blade along Vlad's skin wasn't going to work. He had tough skin. Not to the point of Sammael but tough enough to let Percy know that he should put some power into his strikes.

Vlad let out a hiss of pain as Percy landed a blow against his knee. The appendage sounded an audible crack of bone as it broke but Vlad stayed standing. Percy twisted around and ducked as Vlad swung his arm around to hit Percy in the face. Percy drove his sword through Vlad's newly opened side, surprised at how easy it had been.

He was cursing himself then and there.

Vlad gave a roar of pain but didn't go down. He quickly batted Percy into the desk and put a hand on the blade. Carefully, Vlad eased it out of his side and ribs feeling whatever affect it had on him slowly diminish until it was completely out. The sword clattered to the ground as red blood pooled down the open wound before taking on a life of its own.

The blood bubbled like acid before rising off the ground and going back to his wound, spreading around his torso as if it was a giant blood colored band-aid. Percy picked himself up off the floor and watched as the blood healed him. Though red blood was definitely not normal for aFrikáde.

"That's not stygian iron," Vlad snarled. Percy couldn't help but smirk.

"No, it isn't."

Vlad gave a vicious roar as he charged once again at a defenseless Percy. But Percy didn't need a weapon. Percy dodged a claw coming for his face and another one that was aimed for his heart. Percy kneed theFrikáde in the stomach and elbowed him in the back of the head, making him fall to the ground.

Percy never wanted to do this. It reminded him of his horrible time in Tartarus when he wasn't welcomed there. Of when his sister tried to kill him and commanded others to do so too. Now, there wasn't a problem and Percy didn't harbor any grudge towards her but he didn't like to be reminded of that time.

The demigod son of Poseidon and Third Rule Champion of Nyx straddled Vlad's back, putting his hands on either side of his head. Percy delved into his powers, feeling theFrikáde's connection to the blood he had drank earlier. The classic messed up vampire started to struggle as Percy hammered that mental connection with a mind crowbar. Percy used his powers to tear apart every atom of blood and water inside Vlad's body, no doubt causing great pain.

"Where's Sammael?" Percy demanded as he stopped slightly.

"I don't know!" Percy gritted his teeth and used more force to sever the connection. It took a great deal of power to forcibly sever a connection to a power from a person. Thankfully, Percy had more than enough power to do it.

"Tell me!" Percy roared as he made the blood heat up and boil inside Vlad's body. Torture was never his favorite lesson in Perses' School of Destruction. But it was as needed as English in a normal high school. 'My life is fucked up,' he offhandedly thought to himself.

"I don't know!" Vlad cried again. Disappointed and believing, Percy focused on the water particles in the air around him and pushed his sword to him. Percy moved one hand to the back of Vlad's head and the other gripped Spice tightly. Faster than Vlad could feel, theFrikáde was dead with a simple swipe of Percy's sword to the heart.

Percy relaxed on top of Vlad, unaware how awed the others were looking at him, Piper included. He breathed a deep sigh, unhappy that he didn't find the whereabouts of Sammael. He wanted to surprise theFrikáde that held his scent so that he couldn't be ambushed. Until then, he had to keep hiding.

Percy stood up and turned back to the others. "Pray to Nyx to get you back to the House. I'll join you guys shortly. I have something to do first."

Before Piper could say anything, Percy faded into darkness to the closest mall. He just remembered something.

 **Line Break 1**

The last eight years had changed Olympus drastically. Prosperity came to the city of the gods like a plague. With no wars to fight, evils on the rise, and no one to oppose them, Olympus had grown from a simple city into a metropolis. Palaces were built for all the minor gods, just as cabins for Camp Half-Blood had been done. Hades had been welcomed with some reservations but they quickly went away when the Lord of the Dead revealed that he was a very good adviser to the King of the Gods.

The gods were different too. With nothing to stress Zeus out, he had no reason to find solace in the arms of mortal or ungodly women. In fact, Zeus and Hera were expecting a new child. Their first after Hebe. They had no idea who this child would be, but they had found out from the Fates that the child would be a powerful god. Because there weren't any enemies of Olympus, Zeus became less paranoid and more like a justly and normal king.

Poseidon had taken in Zeus' footsteps. After losing Percy, he realized that his demigod children were in constant danger and harm. That they lived horrible lives and even worse deaths. A journal of Percy's adventures only helped that point of view. He was devastated and guilty that he didn't try to contact his son more than he did. Poseidon spent more time under the ocean, getting to know Amphitrite over again and falling in love with her once more. Though they didn't have another child on the way, they were hoping. Poseidon occasionally met with Sally and her mortal daughter. Alex, the mortal girl, had wanted to be just like Percy, and with the permission of Sally and Paul, Poseidon made that a possibility.

Hades, coincidentally, didn't follow in his brothers' path. He spent more time on the surface, getting to know the people and even fell in love with two mortal women who now bore him children. He made sure that no monsters were to find them quickly and with the help of a few satyrs and his son, the Ghost King, got them to the safety of Camp Half-Blood where they learned of the great Savior of Olympus. Persephone wasn't happy about the demigods but Hades more than made it up to her by removing her curse to stay in the Underworld with the help of Hecate. He learned from a certain demigod that if he loved someone and they didn't love you back, it was best to let them go. He advised Zeus on more than a few occasions and earned a place as Zeus' right hand, though Hades had no desire to rule Olympus anymore and was more than happy to accept the position.

Demeter was facing a overload of food. Mortals had found a way to grow wheat in the harshest environments and the Goddess of Agriculture couldn't be more ecstatic. This multiplied when Persephone came to her with news of her removed curse. Though over the years, Persephone had grown to love the God of the Dead. So with the help of Demeter, Persephone realized her feelings and went to patch things up with Hades, who agreed on the condition to eat more cereal. His favorite was Cheerios and Demeter and him learned to get along greatly.

Ares was at an all time high. He realized that yes, War is more than just brawn. Spending years with Athena and her library helped him greatly. Now not only was he a great fighter, but he could be as cunning as Athena when it came to fighting on instinct. Because of his newfound intellect, he learned to whisper things in mortals' ears to get them to fight better. It caused wars to start and end faster, leaving the population at a steady rate that won't kill the world, which the satyrs and the Lord of the Wild, Grover Underwood, appreciated greatly. The Middle East and Asia were the most war ridden continents in the world and it was all because of him. He started to merge with his Roman aspect, Mars. When they were merged, Ares grew in power. War was War; it made it easy to merge. He had the same amount of demigods but the Greeks were more controlled and the Romans were more savage. Even at four years old.

Dionysus was lifted of his punishment. He was no longer the Camp Director of Camp Half-Blood; instead being replaced by Annabeth Chase and Jason Grace. Dionysus was also a lot more powerful. Parties were going on and people were a lot more broken than usual. Torture techniques were developed and used and made people all the more crazy. Diseases spread by Apollo during the wars also helped as people broke from grief. As God of Insanity, Dionysus was a natural psychiatrist, where he fell in love with his patients. Despite being a drunk, his psychiatrist side was actually pretty decent. He did what he could for his patients (which was a lot). Rich brats threw parties throughout the year and he did what he could to make sure nothing worse than a couple kids passing out happened, in case he had to face Hestia's wrath.

Hestia was the most revered of the gods on Olympus. She was the one to turn to if things went bad. She also knew when things weren't happy in the home. Hestia personally sent the Hunters of Artemis to pick up an abused girl and a few demigods to an abused boy. No one dared oppose Hestia, as she got real fired up when she saw what was happening in those demigod homes. In mortal homes, the best she could do was call the cops a couple dozen times and have the parent or parents arrested. Or kill them herself; it all just depended on how she felt that day.

Hephaestus was actually doing quite well for himself. With the innovation of technology in the world, his domain was booming as tech companies tried to outdo each other and themselves. He managed to get a pretty good gig as one of the employees of the main manufacturers of some of the products. There he met a woman named Samantha who didn't mind his "ugliness", as Aphrodite put it, and enjoyed working on technology as much as he did. She even didn't find it odd at all that he was the God of Forges and Fire. It took a lot of convincing and a lot of time, but he managed to convince Hera to absolve his marriage to Aphrodite, make Samantha James immortal, and marry her. They were now expecting their first godly child together. They planned to have many more.

Athena was confused. Though she always thought of Ares as a boneless and spineless worm, that hadn't been the case when they spent close to a year together. Like a certain son of Poseidon she had known, Ares was more observant and smarter than she realized. Over the course of years, as they took war to a whole new level, they got closer together and eventually started dating, with Ares breaking up with Aphrodite. They didn't tell any of the demigods or the public except the Olympians. He told Athena that he liked her brain and the way she handled herself. Aphrodite was pretty and good in the sack, sure, but he liked fighters. Even mortals with spirit appealed to him more than Aphrodite. Through eight years, Athena had yet to stop having brain children with mortals and Ares the same. But they enjoyed their time dating and took it slow. Which to an immortal, could last close to three thousand years until they get hot and heavy. And both of them were fine with going slow, surprisingly. After Ares had bonded with Mars, he'd gotten more respectful towards women and violence. She still stayed in contact with her favored daughter, who had gotten over Percy Jackson and started dating Jason Grace. Athena still had some anger towards the son of Poseidon for ditching her daughter but one couldn't speak ill will of the dead. So she let it go.

Aphrodite wasn't exactly happy. She wasn't sad, either, but she wasn't happy. Having been divorced and dumped within a eight year span was something she wasn't used to. With the disappearance of her daughter, Piper McLean, she had learned that mortality was a fickle thing. Seeing that, she wanted to learn. She was one of the most powerful Olympians, having been born from Ouranos' remains and the sea. She was as set as the sky but as unpredictable as the ocean. In a rash decision, she asked Zeus to make her mortal for a while and give her fake memories and a family that would take her in. She was born to a nice family, though her father was a bit distant. After her parents died in a fire, she bounced through the foster system and grew up a happy woman. After six years, she was a powerful lawyer before Zeus returned her memories and made her a god again. It was good character building for her. She stopped hassling others into giving away their virginity and let love take its course, though she helped from time to time with true love. Her demigod children felt the change in their mother, and like good kids, followed their mother's example. They stopped messing with people, learned to be strong, fought with a renewed vigor, and quit fawning over make up. Aphrodite even apologized to Hephaestus for everything she had ever done and was glad he'd found a woman that could appreciate him and his toys. It seemed like she was for the better.

Artemis was a different story. After having the one male in the world she truly trusted simply run off and die in Alaska, she learned that men could never be truly good. To her, Percy was the only exception. If she found a male, she wouldn't kill them, but they would be beaten, hunted, and then sent on their way with no memories about what had transpired, convinced they had just taken a bad fall. She visited Percy's grave frequently and at random intervals. She missed his random walk-ins with a new Hunter in tow. She missed how he would IM Thalia for no reason at all and would say 'hi' to her like she was just another normal person. And she missed him. It was weird how she would miss a male, but most of the hunt did too. Percy had helped recruit half of them and the other half just liked him despite a few reservations from the more abused hunters. But she still had a sense of anger at the demigod son of Poseidon. Questions swam in her head: Why did he leave? Why did they never find a body? Why go to Alaska? Why did the one good male die and disappear? She would often find herself silently crying when she visited his grave. He had done much for her and all she did was vote not to have him killed. The hunt was doing well after eight years. The pain of Percy's death ebbed away after a while and their numbers were at a high. Monsters trembled in fear when they saw their silver arrows. But something was wrong. She had heard a lot of things from monsters fresh out of Tartarus. Though it made her want to hope against hope that Percy was actually alive, she didn't tell her hunters and didn't let her hopes get too high. Even after the six years she's been looking, she hasn't heard any more whispers 'Perseus the Ravager.'

Hera was by far the happiest woman on the Olympian council. Probably the planet. After thousands of years of affairs, she was finally getting what those women had got: Zeus' undivided attention. Over the course of the years, she had been romanced, loved, and now pregnant. They went on date nights down in the mortal world, where Zeus wouldn't even look at another woman. He held storms for her and his care over the unborn baby made her ecstatic to be a mother again. She still held some anger towards the children that Zeus had made with other women, but she tried to fix those relationships. She tried to be the best mother she could to the demigod children and went on several events with Apollo and Artemis to help mend their relationship. Hera even tried to get right with Hephaestus, who, with the help of his new wife, accepted her apology and even learned to have a semi-decent conversation with her. It was a start and Hera couldn't be happier.

The eight years of Hermes' life has been normal. Though most of those eight years has been giving excuses to George and Martha on why they couldn't visit Percy and make him give George a rat. Martha just wanted to visit the handsome son of Poseidon as she had a crush on him when he and Hermes had gotten to be better friends. Hermes couldn't find it in his heart to tell them that their favorite demigod was presumed dead and had been for the last six years. When they did find out, it was because of Poseidon, who had sent a message to Sally Jackson, Percy's mother, through Hermes' Messaging. They read the message which just so happened to be a memorial for Percy on his birthday and wouldn't speak to Hermes for a year unless it was work related. Hermes regularly checked in on his demigods and even pulled a few pranks with Travis, Conner, and Travis' girlfriend, Katie Gardner, a child of Demeter. There were, of course, sober moments when Hermes would look back on his life to when he met Percy so many times. If it wasn't for his appearance and water powers, Hermes could have been convinced that Percy was his son. He almost wished that.

Apollo had found all of his oracles and solved the problem within a year of Percy's funeral. Lester was no more and Apollo was welcomed as a god once more. His relationship with Hera was better than Artemis', though he didn't mind the new mother figure in his life. Zeus had lifted the punishment on the good titans like he had promised Percy as soon as Apollo came back and reminded him. Due to his time as a mortal, Apollo realized that childishness was good for putting up a front. A visit to Dr. Dionysus the Psychiatrist helped Apollo realize that he was missing his family members and often acted like a child to garner his sister's attention. After a couple visits to the hunt with Apollo's new attitude, he and Artemis quickly got reacquainted and often meet up for archery contests or had Monster-Hunting-Bonding-Time. Apollo had dreams of what had happened to Percy before he left and didn't tell anyone in case Athena or Poseidon went wrath-happy. He did keep Percy in higher regards. To act so calm when that happened... he must've been devastated. Apollo opened a few clinics in the War Zones out of the United States and set up a fund to keep the soldiers fighting. He and Ares started getting along nicely when they started a conversation about the application of a weaponized plague virus that had been dormant for the last two hundred or so years. Apollo wasn't only the God of Medicine but also the God of Plagues. After meeting with his son and Nico, Will's boyfriend, Apollo had given the okay for the Ghost King to marry his son. The wedding was in just over a year.

Most of these gods will go into shock March 13th, 2021.

 **Line Break 2**

It was the day after Thalia, Hestia, Chiron, and Nico decided to tell the council that Percy was alive. They would be lying if they said that they weren't nervous. Chiron, Thalia, and Nico, especially. Hestia was just more curious about what their reactions would be when they told the entire council that not only was the Savior of Olympus is alive, but had also kidnapped one of the Seven.

As Chiron had asked, both Thalia and Nico were wearing something relatively nice. Nico was wearing an aviator jacket, black jeans, and a black shirt with a skull on it. He wore some of his Ghost King armor just in case things went bad. Classic black medieval knight braces and leggings were adorned and his stygian iron sword was strapped to his waist. Just in case the Olympians got a little angry that he kept this a secret for the last eight years, even from Will.

Thalia wasn't wearing her hunting uniform. She had put on a 'Death to Barbie' T-shirt and black jeans ripped at the knees. While her hunting uniform was good for maneuverability, these these clothes were better for blending into the shadows of Olympus if anything went wrong. She wanted to be prepared if Poseidon tried to kill her for letting him think that his son was dead. She could never be too careful. And she wouldn't count on Artemis to save her. Thalia had caught her lady at Percy's grave once, crying. If she cared about him even a little, both the hunt and Artemis herself would be on her ass.

Chiron was in his normal form, not wanting to be stuck in his wheelchair when the blasting started. While the gods have changed drastically from Percy's death, the news that he was alive would probably be enough to have him incinerated. Running was a good option, though where he would go, he didn't know. He just had to be ready.

Hestia was the only one of them actually relaxed. She had gotten a reputation as a peacekeeper over the years, and by gods she was going to live up to it. No one would harm anyone once the arguments started. Thalia, Nico, and Chiron were in her protection and anyone that tried to harm them would face her instead. And they would fall. She had fought in the First Titan War before she was named by the Fates as the Goddess of Hope, Hearth, and Home. Home wasn't always peaceful and neither was she. She'd like to see someone try to come at her charges.

It didn't take much to summon the other thirteen Olympians. She sent up a column of fire from the Hearth of Olympus and one by one, the Olympians flashed in. Apollo, then Hermes, then Artemis and Aphrodite, then Hera and Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Athena, then Ares. Dionysus flashed in after Demeter, and finally Hephaestus.

Before she could say anything, Apollo doubled over in pain. Artemis and Hera were immediately on their feet and at his side. His eyes turned green and the same color mist pooled out of his mouth. He was getting a prophecy.

 _"Horrors under the earth reach for the top;_  
 _Only by the Savior can they be stopped;_  
 _Night and Darkness have showed him the way;_  
 _After eight years in hiding, he has joined the fray;_  
 _Awakening powers that have been sealed;_  
 _All the worlds will fall with no weapon to wield."_

The mist went away and his eyes returned to normal, giving Apollo a chance to rest. It seemed like it was a powerful prophecy, as he was now asleep rather than up and making jokes. Artemis and Hera picked him up and set him up to be leaning on his throne. Artemis gave a nod of thanks to Hera for helping and Hera returned the nod.

"Before we start talking," Hades spoke, "I suggest we turn our attention to Hestia, Chiron, and the demigods. They are the ones who called this meeting, so the issue may be important."

Zeus nodded to his brother and looked to the ones standing in the middle of the throne room. "I agree with my brother. It's best to put this aside until we deal with what is present. What did you call this meeting for, Hestia?"

Artemis was watching Hestia struggle with her words when she saw it. It had almost blended in with the shadows perfectly. But her trained eyes being to see through dark woods at night had allowed her to spot it.

It was hiding in the shadows of Poseidon's throne. It was more of a skeleton that anything. It had tattered and bat-like wings, pale yellow skin that was printed to the bone, and hollow eye sockets. Its face left its teeth bared, showing large canines.

It was resting directly under the arm of Poseidon's throne. Like a bat, it was hanging upside down with its belly to the ceiling. Its arms were little more than sticks but the claws on its hands were as sharp as daggers.

"Father!" Artemis interrupted as she took out her bow and shot at the being. Immediately, it reacted. It fell from the under arm of the throne and spread out its wings. It shouldn't have been able to fly, but it did. It let out a shriek as Artemis put an arrow through its leg.

When the being let out a shriek, several more appeared from under a couple of thrones. They were like the first being, with large wings and dried skin that clung to their bones. They started yelling as Artemis and Chiron started to put arrows through anything they could get at. One of the being got a bronze tipped arrow through the leg and another got a silver arrow through the shoulder.

The started to fly in circles, like vultures. It was making it hard for an arrow to get one. That's when Ares came in. He took out a sniper, a Barrett 338 Iapua Magnum, and started shooting. Several more beings got shot but they wouldn't go down.

Every god started to take a shot at the multiple beings, most of them missing and some getting a lucky shot in. Thalia and Nico immediately went behind a throne and started using their powers to try and take out the monsters. Thalia shot off lightning as if it was a bullet in a finger gun. Nico was using the shadows to shove his sword into another place near the monsters, making them run into the stygian iron blade. It was Zeus who got rid of them.

He took his Master Bolt and sent a large electrical charge into the mass of monsters, frying them and making them crash to the ground. Only one was still alive. It stood on shaky legs and turned to Zeus. It looked like it was pondering him for a second before it shook his head, yelled out a brutal cry, and shakily launched itself out the closest window twenty feet away. The Olympians ran to look out the window, but the creature was already gone.

"What the hell was that?" Hermes demanded. The entire Olympian council was a little freaked by the freaks. A prophecy suddenly showed up and immediately after some weird monster makes it up to _Olympus_? That wasn't supposed to be possible.

" _Horrors under the earth reach for the top,_ " Athena recited. "It doesn't mean the world it means of everything! We are the top of this world so they came to us! The prophecy has already started!"

"Are you telling me that _that_ was a Horror?" Demeter demanded. "It took Zeus' Master Bolt to kill most of them and Artemis, Chiron, and Ares were weakening them before that!"

"Enough," Hades commanded. "We should talk about this without yelling. We have a prophecy to think about and this 'Savior' to find. _Only by the Savior can they be stopped._ We need to find him."

"Or her," Artemis muttered under her breath.

"Is it cool to come out now?" Thalia's voice echoed throughout the room. The gods turned to where she was and saw that she and Nico were behind Hestia's throne. Thalia had smoke coming off her arm and Nico had his sword drawn. They both looked worn out and the shadows around Nico were wiggling.

"I believe so," Zeus told them. "Be careful around the bodies. We don't know if any of them aren't playing possum."

They nodded and gingerly took a few steps towards them. They made sure to give the Horrors a wide berth and made it to the Olympians who were all in their mortal sizes and discussing with each other the Third Great Prophecy.

" _All the worlds will fall with no weapon to wield._ " Athena rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Does that mean that our weapons aren't going to do anything?"

"Possibly," Ares agreed. "My sniper was loaded with celestial bronze ammo. If they were normal monsters, they would have turned to dust if the bullet went into their shoulder. These guys got them to the gut and barely slowed down."

"A quest," Poseidon announced. "The demigods need to find this 'Savior' while we look for weapons suitable to fight these Horrors."

"Where would even find these weapons?" Zeus asked.

"The other pantheons?" Hades suggested.

"We can't," Hestia protested. "We all promised that we wouldn't have any contact with each other."

"It's a little late for that," Hades replied. "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have already met the Egyptians with Jackson actually hosting a god; and Athena's daughter has a cousin who is the child of Frey."

"How do you know this?" Athena asked.

"Every dead person comes to my domain for a little while. Then they are separated into the pantheon they're supposed to be. The same if a soul was to go to the Egyptian version of Hell," Hades explained. He just got weird looks from the council. "The point is, that we've already had contact. And the last line says 'All the worlds.' It involves them too."

"Very well," Zeus decided. "We shall tell the other pantheons about this threat and of the prophecy. The demigods will be issued a quest to find this Savior. Are we in agreement?"

Each god nodded his or her consent. If these Horrors could survive what the gods could put them through, the demigods were in trouble. Especially if they could get to Olympus without anyone seeing a thing.

"I will go to Camp Half-Blood," Athena offered.

"I'll go to Camp Jupiter then," Hera said. "Be safe. We don't know if these Horrors have invaded the camps as well."

"Ares, go with her," Zeus ordered. "She is carrying my child and your brother. Guard her well."

"Of course, Father," Ares said. The two flashed away, Ares giving Athena a peck on the cheek before he left. Athena blushed golden but flashed to Camp Half-Blood with Chiron and the demigods. Zeus turned to the remaining Olympians.

"We must contact the other pantheons. Poseidon, get a hold of Odin. Demeter and Apollo, call Horus. We need to get them ready," Zeus ordered.

"And the others?" Hades asked. "You know they don't like us."

"I'll handle them," Zeus replied before disappearing in a flashy show of lightening.


End file.
